The Constellation of Lyra
by TheDuskyCreeper
Summary: When Rodger and Elaine Reed adopted Celandine de Lyra, they had no idea she was a daughter of a wizard. After receiving her letter to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Cellie can finally join the wizarding world again. It just turns out she's been snatched into the middle of a chaos caused by the opening of the mysterious Chamber of Secrets. I don't own Harry Potter.
1. Chapter 1 - Diagon Alley

"Oh. My. _God_!" Maggie shrieks. "This. Is. _Awesome_!"

I just roll my eyes at her.

We've just arrived at the Diagon Alley. I've already been here three times before, but for my new Muggle family this is the first time here. In fact, they found out about the wizarding world only two weeks ago. Good thing they're tough. And open-minded. Well, kind of.

The Alley is, as usual, crowded with dozens of witches and wizards wearing colourful cloaks and doing their shopping. The shops are also colourful, and they've got colourful ads on their windows advertising cauldrons, books, cloaks and many other stuff. In other words, the Alley is so noisy and colourful I'm afraid I might get a migraine, but I don't care. I'm just happy to be here again.

"Yes, it is. Now, can we get to the Gringotts?" I ask impatiently. We've got to change our Muggle money into Galleons, Sickles and Knuts.

"Gringotts?" Rodger asks, confused. "What is that?"

I sigh. Sometimes I forget how unaware of everything they are when it comes to the Wizarding world.

"It's a wizard bank", I explain. Rodger still looks confused.

"Wizards have banks?" he questions.

"Well, this one, at least. And they've got their own currency." I intentionally avoid saying "we". The Reeds are still not quite comfortable with the fact that they adopted a witch.

Like I said, they're _kind of_ open-minded.

"That's ridiculous", Elaine mutters to herself. I feel a bit uncomfortable for her words.

"Let's just go change the money", I say and lead them to the end of the street and inside a tall, white, stone building guarded by two double doors and Goblins. We step inside an enormous entrance hall with marble floor and crystal crowns hanging from the ceiling. On the both sides of the hall there are counters, behind which rather grumpy-looking Goblins sit counting money, weighing diamonds and serving customers. I head for the closest free counter.

"Hey", I say nervously. The Goblin scowls at me with his black eyes. "I'd like to change some Muggle money into Galleons."

"Do you have your identification?" he asks looking rather unpleasant.

"I… should have it right here…" I go through my pockets until I finally find my ID and hand it over to the Goblin, who looks at it with a grimace.

"Celandine Laelynn Sagitta Reed?" he asks. "Eleven-year-old female?"

"Yeah, that's me…"

The Goblin hands me the card and turns to look at the Muggle money on the counter. I make a nervous move when he starts counting it. Finally, after counting it the second time, he hands me a bag of coins.

"Thank you", I say. The Goblin doesn't reply, and I head back to the Reeds.

"Okay", I say. "I think we can go now…"

Emma is the only one who doesn't seem happy about leaving Gringotts. Apparently she loves Goblins.

"What _were_ those things?" Elaine asks quite disgusted when we're back on the Alley again.

"Goblins", I reply gingerly. "Anyway, I think we should buy my school robes first… Madam Malkin's is the best place, it's right over here…"

A bell rings above the door as we step into the little shop filled with different kind of robes and cloaks. There is no one sitting behind the counter, so we just wait. After a brief moment, a tall, old witch in emerald green robes appears from behind the shelves.

"Laelynn, dear", Madam Malkin welcomes me with a smile. "It's been a while."

"Yeah, it has", I say and smile a bit.

"You're eleven now, aren't you? Going to Hogwarts?" Madam Malkin asks, completely ignoring the Reeds standing uncomfortably behind me (or actually mister and missis Reed are standing uncomfortably behind me while Richard, Maggie and Emma are glancing around with wonder).

"Yeah", I answer to Madam Malkin. "I need to buy my school robes."

"Well follow me, dear. I've got another customer, too."

I follow her to a distant corner with a lot of mirrors. On the stool, there is standing a blond boy, who looks a lot like his older brother.

"Hi, I'm Scorpius Malfoy", he says with dignity and pride. I roll my eyes.

"I'm Celandine Reed", I reply as Madam Malkin starts fitting the robes on me. I don't want to give this arrogant prick the satisfaction of admitting I know who he is.

"Nice to meet you", Scorpius Malfoy says. He glances at the Reeds who seem to be in the completely wrong place. "Are you a Mudblood?"

I scowl at him angrily.

"There is no need to use that kind of foul language", Madam Malkin pipes in.

"I'm half-blood anyways", I tell Scorpius. He nods.

"Good."

"Why is that good?" I challenge him.

"Muggle-borns are _dirty_ ", Scorpius says like it's obvious. "I mean, they're not even real wizards."

"Let me guess, your dad told you that? Or was it your mom?" I don't give him the chance to respond. "I'll have you know, that my aunt was a Muggle-born, and in all my life I've never met a better witch."

"Then you clearly haven't met the right witches yet", Scorpius says. I let out an angry snort.

"You're an idiot", I tell him. He narrows his eyes at me, but lets it go.

"What house do you think you'll be sorted into?" he asks. I shrug.

"I haven't got the slightest clue."

"Well, I guess nobody really knows before they've actually been sorted", he says. "But my whole family has been in Slytherin, so I'll probably be one, too. But if I got sorted into Hufflepuff, I think I would just go straight home, wouldn't you?"

"There is nothing wrong with Hufflepuffs", I snap at him. "They're honest, diligent and loyal. What's wrong with that? You know, I think I'd rather like to be sorted in Hufflepuff."

It's his time to snort.

"Alright, mister Malfoy, you're ready", Madam Malkin says quickly. Scorpius steps down from the stool and glances at me before heading for the counter.

"Where are you going next?" he asks after he's paid for his robes (which are made of a ridiculously expensive kind of fabric).

"Flourish & Botts, I guess." I don't have any interest in going there with a Malfoy, though.

"Me too", Scorpius says. "Maybe we could go together?"

"Maybe, if you can stand my Muggle family", I say with a sarcastic tone. Scorpius glances at them.

"You're right; I don't want anyone thinking I'm hanging out with a Mudblood."

"Language!" Madam Malkin says. Scorpius barely even shrugs before leaving the shop. "There you go, dear, that was faster than expected", Madam Malkin says after finishing my uniform.

I take off the robes and pay for them. After that we step out of the shop. The few clouds that hovered in front of the sun when we arrived at the Alley have been chased of by the wind and the Alley is now bathing in the bright sunlight. I glance down at my list of the supplies I need.

"Okay… so, we could go to the bookshop now", I say. "I'm going to need fourteen books."

"Why did that old lady call you Laelynn?" Emma asks.

"There was some debate about what my name should be when I was a baby. My mother wanted it to be Laelynn, but she changed it into Celandine after my father died... Anyways, some people never learned the new name."

In front of the bookshop I almost bump into two blond boys.

"You missed the show, Scorpius", the taller one is saying. "Dad beat that Weasley up."

I snort and immediately catch the attention of the two boys.

"You're right, it was funny", Draco Malfoy said.

"Oh, no, no, I didn't think it was funny your daddy beat Weasley up. I think it's funny you actually think he did that", I say with a smirk. Draco narrows his eyes at me.

"What do you know?" he asks with a grimace. "Who are you, anyways?"

"She's a half-blood Muggle lover", Scorpius interjects. I raise my eyebrows. Draco's grimace grows wider, and he yanks his little brother's robes and they stalk away. I shake my head at them and enter the shop, which is completely crowded, mostly by middle-age witches. The reason is simple; Gilderoy Lockhart is signing his books. I scowl at him. The guy is a complete fraud. Too bad I need seven of his books for my school. The Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher must be a big fan of him…

A realization suddenly hits me. The D.A.D.A. teacher isn't a _fan_ of Lockhart – he _is_ Lockhart. I gag.

"Celandine? Is it really you?" someone asks from behind me. I turn around and see a tall boy with messy, honey brown hair. A grin spreads across my face.

"Rhys!" I exclaim before pulling him into a hug. He squeezes me so hard I almost can't breathe – we haven't seen each other in years. I pull away and look at him. We've both got wide smiles on our faces.

"Blimey, Cellie! How are you?" he asks.

"I'm fine", I tell him. "They didn't let me have an owl in the orphanage, and I doubt a Muggle postman would have found the Ashwood Abbey. How are you?"

"Fine", he says. He turns around to call his family.

"Mum, dad, it's Cellie!"

And suddenly I'm pulled into a big hug by Delyth Cadwallader. I can't help but smile; I've missed them all.

"Celandine, dear, how are you?" Delyth asks as she takes a step back to have a good look at me. "Oh, look how you've grown! You're almost as tall as Rhys!" she says.

"I'm great, thanks", I say. Roderick Cadwallader is now shaking my hand wildly. "I got adopted into a Muggle family. I'm now a Reed."

"You got adopted?" Roderick asks. "That's so great! I never doubted that, though, since you've always been such a pretty face, and so charming. Oh, I'm going to have to meet them. Are they here?"

"Yeah, they're right there…" Roderick heads towards the Reeds and I turn my attention to little Ffion, who is smiling shyly at me.

"Hi, Ffion", I say and give her a friendly smile. "Do you remember me?" she nods shyly. My smile grows even wider, if possible.

"It's so great to see you all", I say. "I've really missed you guys."

"We've missed you, too", Delyth says. "I was rather worried when you where left so alone."

"I'm fine now", I say. "It could have been a lot worse."

"Yeah, you could've been adopted by a former Death Eater", Rhys jokes, earning an angry scowl from his mother. "Sorry."

"You found your books yet?" I ask him in order to change the subject.

"Nope", he says. "Got distracted. You'll never believe this: Lucius Malfoy attacked Arthur Weasley!"

"Yeah, I heard Draco boasting about it outside", I tell him. "He said Malfoy won."

Rhys lets out a loud snort that once again earns him a scowl from Delyth. "He didn't. Hagrid pulled them away from each other, but I could swear that Weasley was winning. Hey, did you see Harry Potter?"

" _Harry Potter_? _The_ Harry Potter? Blimey!" I say. "He's here?"

"Yeah, and Lockhart noticed him too. He looked pretty awkward having his picture taken with that fraud. Can't say I blame him. Can't believe Lockhart's gonna be our D.A.D.A. teacher."

"Yeah, me neither", I answer glumly. "Hey, do you think he gives out autographs?"

"What, Lockhart? When does he _not_ give out autographs?"

"No, _not Lockhart_ " I answer and punch him lightly in the arm. "Harry Potter!"

"No, I don't think he does", Rhys says. "Some people say he's an arrogant prick but I think he's just a poor little boy who saved the world twice. Let's just leave him alone."

"Yeah, okay", I nod. "Hey, did you just say _twice_?"

"Long story", Rhys says. "I think we should go get our books. I'll tell you a story about last year." He grins.

After I've bought my books and other necessary stuff for school and Rhys has told me about "the Philosopher's Stone" and professor Quirrel "who had you-know-who hiding in his turban" we head for Ollivander's. Rhys wants to see want kind of wand I get. His parents are chatting with the Reeds in a nearby café.

We step inside the dusky and dusty shop. Behind the counter sits a misty-eyed, grey-haired, old man: Ollivander himself.

"Hi", I say.

"Ah", Ollivander says. "Miss de Lyra, I assume? You haven't changed at all."

"Actually, it's Reed", I say. Ollivander looks confused, so I explain: "That's my new surname."

"Ah, good, good", Ollivander says. "Well, I think I've got the perfect wand for you. It's been safe in the storage waiting for you since the day you turned six. Let me just go get it." He disappears into the shadows behind the dusty shelves.

"So, tell me about _the Reeds_ ", Rhys says.

"Well", I say, "they're okay. Mister Reed is strict and missis Reed is even more so, but they're fair. Their oldest kid, Richard, is a rather normal fourteen-year-old. He's popular and sometimes really annoying. He'd definitely be in Gryffindor. Margaret, who is twelve, is over-enthusiastic about everything, which is extremely annoying. I think she'd be Slytherin, but she's not evil, just ambitious. Emma, who is nine, is really annoying, too, but also nice and sincere. She'd be in Hufflepuff, I'd bet my life for that."

Rhys grins.

"So, what house did you get sorted in?" I ask him.

"Ravenclaw", Rhys says with pride.

"Nice", I reply. "I think I'll be put in there, too."

"Oh, you will", Rhys says. "I can tell by the way you dress. When did you become a goth, anyways?"

"About two years ago."

"Here it is", Ollivander says, appearing from the shadows with a blue box in his hands. "Silver lime and Unicorn hair, twelve inches, nice and supple." He hands me an ornamental, light wand. I take it, and a strange wind blows my hair to my face as red and orange sparkles come from the end of the wand.

"Perfect", Ollivander says and packs up the wand. "That'll be seven Galleons, thank you."

I pay for the wand and Rhys and I leave the shop to go look for our parents. Er – his parents and my adoptive parents.

"Silver lime!" Rhys says once we're out of the shop. "Blimey! You didn't tell me you were a _Seer_!"

"I'm a clairvoyant, to be accurate", I tell him. "Er… my aunt thought there might be Seers among my fathers ancestry, but since he died before I started showing any signs of clairvoyance… well, I don't really know anything about it."

"So – what, you like prophesy or something?"

"Well, um, no. I can read people's Auras, intentions and sometimes I know things that have happened in the past or hear people's thoughts…"

"You hear people's _thoughts_?" Rhys blurts.

"Sometimes, yeah, and I can sometimes predict little stuff like Quidditch which of course takes all the fun out of it. But sometimes I know the test answers in advance, which can be really handy." A wide grin spreads on my face.

"That is so cool", Rhys says with admiration.

We walk in silence until we pass the Eeylops Owl Emporium, when Rhys suddenly says:

"You don't have an owl, do you?"

I shake my head. "No, like I said, they wouldn't let me have owls in the orphanage."

Rhys grins. "Then we're got to get you one", he says.

"What?" I blurt.

"Yeah, you totally need one", Rhys says with a serious expression on his face.

"I don't know… I should ask Rodger and Elaine about it…" I ponder.

"Well, let's go ask, if it means so much to you."

We run down the Alley until we find the café the Reeds and Cadwalladers are sitting at.

"Um, Rodger, Elaine…" I start with uncertainty. "Can I… can I have an owl?"

"A _what_?" Rodger blurts confused.

"An owl."

"Why would you want an owl?" Elaine asks.

"Well, they deliver wizard post… and stuff… thought it might be useful to own one." I scratch the back of my head awkwardly.

"Wait, _owls_ deliver the wizard post? What happened to postmen?" Rodger asks.

"They don't have them in the wizarding world", I say, carefully avoiding the word "we".

"I love owls!" Emma exclaims. "Mom, dad, can we get one?"

Rodger and Elaine glance at each other before Rodger says: "Fine, you can have a bloody owl. But if I find one dead mouse in our house, the bird is gone."

"Thank you!" I exclaim before giving them both a brief hug. Rodger looks confused and Elaine looks delighted.

"Emma, you want to come?" I ask Emma, whose face immediately lights up and then Rhys, Emma and I head of to go buy "a bloody owl".

I end up buying a brown little owl, who I name Neri, even though Emma wants to call her Daniella.

"What's wrong with Daniella?" she whines.

"It's too long, and I prefer Neri anyways", I tell her, my voice mixed with irritation.

"But why?" She really doesn't know when to stop.

"Because it was my mother's name", I snap angrily at her. She goes silent, looking worried. I see Elaine glance at me with concern in her eyes.

"Never mind", I mutter and quicken my steps to catch up with Richard, who is ogling over some broomsticks.

 **(A/N: I made Scorpius Draco's little brother because it was a logical name for a descendant of a Black and I liked it better than let's say Aquarius. Sorry if this is confusing... Thanks for reading!:))**


	2. Chapter 2 - The Reeds

The Reeds' house is a nice and neat semidetached house in a nice and neat suburb. It's made of wood and painted with cream white. Come on, I'll give you a tour.

When you step in through a nice and neat, white door, you find yourself in a small hall. To your left there is a coat rack and to your right there is a cupboard with mirror doors. Right in front of you there are stairs to the second floor. If you go through a door on your right, you find yourself in a nice and neat living room. The floor is covered with a brown and soft mat. In the middle of the wall opposite the windows is a fireplace, and around it two armchairs, a loveseat and a rocking chair. Under the windows is a TV, and around it a little table, a long sofa and one armchair. Everything in the room is white and beige. On the same wall with the door to the hall there is another door to a little bathroom. Across the room is an open doorway to the kitchen/dining room. The table is large, round and dark brown and around it there are eight matching chairs. Except for that, everything in the room is white and beige, just like in the living room.

Now, if you go back to the hall and up the stairs and turn right, you find yourself in a large hall (well, larger than the one downstairs anyways) with three doors to your right, two to your left and one in front of you.

The first door on your right leads to Elaine and Roger's room, which is nice and neat and beige and white with a bed, a dresser and a mirror.

The second door leads to the study, which is a big room filled with bookshelves. Under the windows there is a large table with a chair in front of it. In one corner there is a large cane chair for reading and in another corner there is a grand piano, which Emma sometimes tries to play while Elaine tries to teach her how to do it.

Behind the third door is Emma's room, which is full of pink kid stuff and where I very rarely go. I'm a bit frightened with all the innocence and _pinkness_ within.

The first door to your left leads to Maggie's room. She's filled it with girly stuff like make up things and sparkling clothes and posters of teenage boy celebrities I've never even heard of. It frightens me even more than all the kids' stuff in Emma's room. I mean, I was once a child, but I'm never going to be a girly girl like Maggie.

The door in front of you leads to the upstairs' bathroom, which is considerably larger than the one downstairs.

On the ceiling there is a trapdoor with a white string hanging from it. That leads to the attic which is also known as Richard's bedroom, but I have no idea what is in there, because he's never let me in. Maggie says he invaded it as soon as they started to renovate the house (which was because they needed a fifth bedroom for me).

Now, it's time you see my room. Like you probably already guessed, it's behind the second door to your left. The windows are opposite the door, and I can see our nice and neat backyard from up here. On the same wall as the door there is a dark, wooden bed with navy blue blankets. Next to it there is a dark wooden bedside table and next to that is my bookshelf. My dresser is on the wall opposite the bookshelf, and my desk is under the windows. A dark, blue mat covers the floor.

So, now you've had the tour around the house. Next I will introduce you to the Reeds.

Rodger Reed is a middle-aged man with glasses messy, grey hair and a face full of wrinkles. He's a banker. Elaine is a little younger than him, and she has a short, brown hair she has been dyeing for longer than I have known her (which is only about a year, though). She's a sales assistant, whatever that is. They are both very strict, though Elaine more so than Rodger, but they are also fair, which is more than some of the adults at the orphanage were.

Richard, or Rick, is fourteen. He's got messy, sand-coloured hair, a bit like Rhys's. He plays football. He doesn't like to talk to me, Maggie or Emma very much. He says we're annoying little girls. Maggie always fights him, but I never do. I don't dare.

Margaret, or Maggie, is twelve, which makes her a year older than I am. She's got long, red hair and green eyes with a hint of grey. She's peppy and _girly_ which frightens me. She likes to gossip and have slumber parties with her friends and stuff like that. She also plays flute, but her thing is cooking. She loves it and is actually good at it.

Emma is nine. She's got long, blond hair and a charming smile. She's peppy and energetic, but very sincere and mostly nice, but she never knows when to stop teasing. She plays grand piano (or tries to) and does gymnastics three times a week. I really don't know where she gets her energy from.

And then there's me. I was adopted about nine months ago from the Cokeworth Orphanage. I am eleven years and seven months old. I was born on January 5th 1981. I have black, shoulder-cut hair and dark grey eyes. I like reading, writing and drawing. I am a clairvoyant, whatever that means. And I'm a witch.

Yep, now you know everything you need to know about the Reeds and their house. And now I can go back to reality and sit here at the dinner table eating pasta Elaine made us. I can listen to Richard and Maggie fight over something really stupid, and I can listen to Emma enthuse about having a witch as a big sister.

"Hey Cellie, can you turn Lance Mitchell into a cockroach?" she asks.

"No I can't", I say as I crease my eyebrows. "Why would you want me to turn him into a cockroach?"

"He throws pencils at me", Emma says and crosses her arms looking annoyed. "If he was a cockroach I could put him into a jar and keep him there until he learns not to throw pencils at others!"

"Well, I'm not turning anyone into a cockroach. Why don't you just punch him?" I ask. Her face immediately lights up.

"Celandine", Elaine says. Punching people was very popular at the orphanage, but Elaine and Rodger don't like it.

"Sorry", I mutter. Emma isn't willing to let it go, though.

"Yes!" she exclaims. "That is a great idea!"

"No, it's a bad idea", Rodger says.

"No it's not! I'm going to run to their house right now so I can beat him up!" Emma is already leaving from the table, and I find it very hard to hold back my snickers, and to my surprise, Rick seems to be having the same problem.

"Sit down, Emma", Elaine says stiffly. Emma frowns and shakes her head.

"I won't. I'm gonna go punch Lance Mitchell!"

"Nobody's going to punch anyone", Rodger says with a hint of amusement in his tone. "Sit down, Em." Emma reluctantly obeys.

"Now", Elaine says with her I-am-going-to-teach-you-a-life-lesson-only-I-care-about-voice. "Violence doesn't solve anything. If somebody's harassing you, you should tell someone. Things can be solved in a civilised way."

"But I don't wanna be civilised", Emma says. "I wanna punch Lance Mitchell."

"Want to", Elaine corrects her. "You don't want to. And sometimes in life you have to do things you don't want to."

"That's stupid", Emma mutters.

"I've got to go", Rick says. "Football practice. Bye!" He gets up and leaves.

"Be home by half past eight!" Elaine calls after him, and we hear him mutter something incoherent.

I get up, too, and go to my room, where I start looking through my new books. Most of them are written by Gilderoy Lockhart, which only makes him look even vainer than I already know he is.

I'm looking through Miranda Goshawk's _The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1)_ , when someone gingerly knocks on my door. I let out a silent "mmm", and the door opens. Emma stands in the doorway looking uncertain.

"Can I come in?" she asks. I nod, and she sits down on my bed next to me. She stares at her hands for a moment before eyeing me and hesitantly asking: "When are you leaving?"

"First day of September. My train leaves from Kings Cross at eleven."

She nods, turning to face her hands again.

"I just…" She falls silent. After a little while she continues: "How did you know all those people in the Diagon Alley? Ffion and her family?"

"Mister and missis Cadwallader used to be friends with my mother and aunt. We lost touch after mom and aunt Hannah… Well, anyways, Rhys and I used to spend all of our free time together when we were younger."

"Did you fancy him?" Emma asks teasingly.

"No! Of course not", I tell her. "I mean, we were like five or something!"

"I used to fancy many boys when I was five", Emma says. I raise my eyebrows.

"Okay…" I comment slowly. "Well, I think you're still too young to fancy boys."

"I'm not too young to do anything!" Emma exclaims. "I'm only two years younger than you!"

I chuckle.

"Yeah, right. Well, it's time you go to bed now, and I need to finish my packing and get Neri back inside. She's been out on a hunt."

"Goodnight", Emma says and leaves. I get off of the bed and bend my upper body out from the window, looking for Neri. "Cellie?" Emma asks. I turn around and see her lingering on the doorway.

"Yeah?"

"Will you write to me from that school?" she asks shyly.

"Yeah, sure", I say. She smiles a little and disappears from the doorway. I smile a bit to myself, turn to the window again and start whistling in order to get Neri back inside.


	3. Chapter 3 - Platform 9 And 3 Quarters

It's August 31st, and I am sitting in my room alone. Well, alone if you don't count Neri, who is screeching loudly in her cage. She wants to go outside and hunt, but I don't want to let her go, not right now. I'm really nervous and need some company, so I just give her some owl treats and hope she'll shut it before she wakes somebody up. It's almost midnight, but just can't fall asleep, and Neri has nothing to do with that. My stomach's full of butterflies because of tomorrow. What house will I be sorted into? Will I find friends? Technically Rhys is a friend of mine, but will he want to hang out with a first year girl at school? I really doubt that.

It's 00.19, when Neri lets out an especially loud scream. I hear Rick's trapdoor slam open and him descending the stairs. A moment later my door slams open.

"Make that bloody owl stop!" Rick hisses angrily.

"Sorry", I mutter. He scowls angrily first at me and then Neri before storming off. I moan and get up.

"Fine", I say, opening the window. "Go, but be back by morning." Neri flutters hurryingly out of the window before I have the chance to change my mind.

In the morning I'm really tired and look even more hideous than usual, according to Maggie.

"Seriously, Cellie, you have enormous black bags under your eyes, and that Goth make-up is _not_ helping", she informs me as she spreads marmalade on her toast. "Why do you always have to dress like that?"

"I like it", I say and crease my eyebrows.

"Well, I don't", Maggie states.

"I think Cellie's clothes are cool", Emma pipes in.

"Thank you, Emma", I say. I'm wearing black jeans, black T-shirt, black hoodie and black sneakers with silver rivets and chains.

"Whatever", Maggie says and takes a bite out of her toast.

"Where's Rick?" Elaine asks. Maggie shrugs.

"He's still in bed", Emma says. Elaine gets up and marches to the hall.

"Rick!" she shouts. "Get up!"

There is no response, so Elaine calls him again. When he still doesn't answer, she goes upstairs and a moment later we hear her knocking furiously on Rick's trapdoor.

After a while Rick drags himself downstairs and sits down on the table. She looks even more hideous than I do.

"Hurry up, Rick, we're going to be late", Elaine says annoyed.

"Do I have to come?" he mumbles. "I'm tired."

"What time did you go to bed last night?" Elaine asks, putting her hands on her hips and looking determined. When she's on her "mama-bear mode", which Rodger calls it, she kind of scares me, so I slip out of the table and head for my room.

"Around five", is Rick's answer. I really wouldn't want to see Elaine's face right now.

When I get into my room I start finishing packing. The book I was reading last night, toothbrush and toothpaste are all things that I haven't had the time to pack yet. I have a large and heavy trunk and a black backpack, and they are both filled with all kind of stuff including my school robes, a pewter cauldron and all seven of that dumb Lockhart's books. I bet he didn't even do all that stuff. He must have made it up.

Neri flies in through the open window and lands on my bookshelf with a dead mouse in her claws. She drops it down to the floor. I groan in disgust as I pick it up by its tale.

"You just had to bring it here, didn't you? Is this a revenge for trying to keep you locked up all night?" I ask Neri. She just glares at me with bitter eyes as I throw the mouse out of the window. "Okay, get down here and go to your cage."

Neri barely blinks.

"Oh, come _on_!" I moan. She reluctantly flutters across the room and into her cage. I close and lock the door. Neri doesn't seem very happy about it, so I throw her some owl treats.

"So, are you ready to go, honey?" Rodger asks from the doorway.

"Yeah", I say and pick up my backpack and Neri's cage. "Can you help me with the trunk?"

"Of course", he says and tries to lift it, with very little success. "Oh dear, this is heavy. What do you have in here?"

He starts dragging the trunk towards the stairs with great difficulty.

After Rodger, Rick and I have finally managed to lift my trunk to the back of the big minivan and we are all sitting in the car we can finally go. Elaine is driving and keeps complaining about how we're "late", even though we have plenty of time to get to the airport.

"What platform does your train leave?" Rodger asks.

"Nine and three quarters", I answer gingerly, carefully reading his expression.

"What?" he says. "Let me see your ticket."

I give it to him a little bit reluctantly. I haven't had the time to prepare them for the secret platform.

"There's got to be a mistake. There isn't such thing as a platform nine and three quarters", Rodger says confused.

"There is, but it's hidden."

"A hidden platform?" Emma enthuses. "That sounds so exciting! Oh I can't _wait_ to see it!"

"What do you mean, hidden? Like Diagon Alley?" Rodger asks, still looking confused. Elaine, on the other hand, looks irritated.

"Why is everything hidden? Does the government know about it, or do wizards dodge the law or something?" she asks.

"No… it's just for their safety", I tell her. "And for muggles' safety too, of course."

"I would really prefer if you didn't use that word", Elaine says and eyes me through the mirror. "It sounds disgraceful."

"Sorry", I mutter and start staring out of the window.

"Hey, can we play riddles?" Emma asks.

"Sure, darling", Rodger says. "Do you want to start?"

"Yes! I've got a good one. What animal has knees that bend backwards?"

"I don't know", Elaine says. "Give us more clues."

"It's pink", Emma says. Of course it is.

"It's a flamingo", Rick says dully.

"Yes!" Emma exclaims. "Maggie, your turn."

"Who really doesn't want to play this game?" Maggie asks.

"Me!" Rick and I both say at the same time. Emma frowns and crosses her arms. For the rest of the drive we all stay silent.

It's quarter to eleven when we get to the station, but Elaine is still freaking out.

"Hurry up! Maggie, can you go get a cart for Cellie's trunk? Rick, go help your dad lift the trunk out of the car."

"It's okay, I got it", I say and hurry to help Rodger, who is trying to lift the edge of the trunk enough to get it out of the car. Maggie appears with the cart and together we are able to get the trunk on it. I throw the backpack on my back and take Neri's cage in my left hand while Rodger pushes the cart. We get to the platform nine, and then we stop.

"So, what do we do now?" Maggie asks. I scratch the back of my head trying to remember what my mom told me a long time ago.

"We walk toward the barrier between platforms nine and ten", someone says from behind me. I turn around to see Rhys and the other Cadwalladers standing behind us with a trunk and a big barn owl.

"What, that barrier there?" Rodger asks looking confused.

"Yup", Rhys says. "Just follow my lead."

He takes his trunk – which really conveniently has wheels – and walks straight through the barrier. The Reeds stare with wide eyes at the spot where he disappeared.

"You go first", Roderick says friendly. "We'll be right after you and see you make it."

Elaine looks like she's totally opposed to the idea.

"Well, go on, it's really easy", Delyth says. I take Elaine's hand and try and pull her toward the barrier.

"This is insane", she mutters as we touch the barrier. I pull her through it, and suddenly we're on platform nine and three quarters. The other Reeds come right after us. They all look stunned, except Emma, who is jumping up and down. Rhys is waiting for us, and grins at their shock. The other Cadwalladers come through the barrier, and we start moving toward the bright, red steam engine standing on the railway and spreading white smoke over the platform. It's noisy and colourful, kind of like in Diagon Alley. We hear owls screeching, cats meowing and people chattering. I can't help but smile. This place looks so happy and alive.

Suddenly I'm hit by a strong déjà vu. I've been here before, I'm positive about that, but I just can't remember why or when. It must have been with my mother when I was a younger…

I don't have time to think about it now, though.

"Okay, so I guess this is it, darling", Rodger says with a sad tone.

"Do you want us to help you get to the train?" Elaine asks worriedly.

"No, thanks, it's okay", I say. "Well… goodbye."

Elaine pulls me into a warm and long hug.

"Take care of yourself", she says as she pulls away.

Next one to hug me is Rodger.

"Stay out of trouble, dear", he says. I could swear he has tears in his eyes.

"Are you crying?" I ask teasingly. I've known him for about a year, and I've never seen him get emotional like this.

"No, no I'm not", he says and smiles, but wipes his eyes when he thinks no one's looking.

Maggie squeezes me like her life depended on me.

"Promise me you will write me every day", she says and tightens her grip so that I can barely even breathe.

"Well, not every day", I manage to say. "Every second, maximum…"

"But you _will_ write often, won't you?" Maggie asks.

"Yeah, sure…"

"You've been a really great sister", Emma says and grabs my waste as Maggie finally pulls away from me. "I like you."

"Well, um, thanks. You too", I stammer a little shocked but secretly more delighted than I've been in a long time.

"Take care, little sis", Rick says and lightly punches my arm. He's never called me sister before, and I think my heart is filling up like a balloon.

"You too, big bro", I say and punch him bag.

"It's, um… You're, ah… a good guy", he stammers awkwardly. My smile grows even wider; from Rick that is a great compliment.

"Yeah, you too."

After that I'm pulled to a sudden yet warm hug by Delyth, and then Roderick shakes my hand so long I'm afraid it's going to fall off.

I wave them all goodbye and turn to walk away with Rhys.

"I love you!" Elaine calls after me.

"Bye", I say and smile a little embarrassed.

"Wow", Rhys says. "You got really lucky with them, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I guess I did", I answer. "Hey, you want to help me get my trunk aboard?"

"Sure."

We're trying to drag the trunk along the hallway into an empty compartment, when someone says behind us in sneering voice:

"Well, well, it looks like Cadwallader got himself a girlfriend during the summer." It's Draco Malfoy with two really big and dumb-looking goons behind him. I snort.

"Really, Draco, that all you got?" I ask him. He narrows his eyes at me.

"Nobody asked you."

I just shake my head and roll my eyes at him.

"Beat it, Draco."

"And why would I do anything _you_ tell me to?" he asks. "Muggle-lover."

I can't help but snort loudly.

"That would only offend me if I wasn't one."

"You heard her, Malfoy. Beat it or I'll kick your ass", Rhys pipes in. Draco Malfoy scrunches his nose but leaves. Apparently he doesn't want to take the chance.

When we finally get my trunk into an empty compartment, Rhys seems eager to leave my first-year company, even though he doesn't put it like that.

"So, um, I was thinking about going to find my friends, if you're okay…?"

"Yeah, sure, no problem", I say and force a smile. "I'll be fine."

Rhys nods and is off with his trunk that has _wheels_.

Remember what I said about my heart being a balloon? I think somebody just let all of the air out of it.


	4. Chapter 4 - The Hogwarts Express

I stare out of the window as the train slowly starts moving. I see the Reeds in the crowd, waving at me. I wave back. Then the train leaves the platform and they disappear out of my sight. I sigh a little and take my book from my backpack. It's called Bleak House and it's written by the Muggle-author Charles Dickens. I've read a lot of Muggle-literature in my life, since I spent four years in a Muggle orphanage.

I'm at the point where mister Bucket arrests George, when the compartment door slides open and a red-headed girl steps in.

"Sorry, can I sit here?" she asks. "Everywhere else is full."

"Yeah, sure", I say. She sits down on the seat opposite mine, looking a little nervous.

"You're a Weasley, right?" I ask.

She lifts her chin and says defiantly:

"Yes, I am."

"It's… Ginevra, isn't it?" I ask, narrowing my eyes as I try to remember.

"Ginny, actually", she answers.

"Right, okay. I'm Cellie Reed. It's nice to meet you."

Ginny's face softens as she realises I'm not going to mock her for being a Weasley.

"You too", she says. "This is my first year, what about you?"

"It's my first year, too", I tell her.

"Great! Maybe we get sorted into the same house!" Ginny enthuses.

"Maybe", I say. "What house do you think you'll be in?"

"Oh, I hope I get to Gryffindor", Ginny says. "My whole family's been in Gryffindor, and I'm nervous I won't be one, too."

"Well, the other houses are good too", I say. "I'm actually hoping I'll be in Ravenclaw, but Gryffindor wouldn't be too bad, either. I know I shouldn't be prejudiced, but I wouldn't like to be in Slytherin. I hear they're all pricks."

"Yeah, I've heard that, too", Ginny says. "I wouldn't want to be in Slytherin, either. They're mean. I hear all the bad witches and wizards come from Slytherin. And my brothers would never shut up about it."

"You have five brothers, don't you?" I ask, choosing to ignore her ignorance when it comes to dark witches and wizards.

"Six", she sighs. "Bill and Charlie have already left school, but I'll still have to cope with Percy, Fred, George and Ron."

"They can't be that bad, can they?" I ask.

"Percy's all stuck up because he's a prefect, and Ron is just really annoying. Fred and George are mostly funny, they like pranking, but it's annoying when they prank on you. Do you have any siblings?" she asks.

"Yeah, three. Well, kind of. One big brother, one big sister and one little sister."

"What do you mean 'kind of'?" Ginny asks, curious.

"They're not biologically my siblings", I say and quickly change the subject. "Anyway, I hear Gilderoy Lockhart is our Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. What do you think about that?"

"Oh, I'm so excited!" Ginny says. "He's done so many things; I read two of his books during the summer!"

"Well, I think he's a fraud", I tell her. "I bet my life he just made those things up. Besides, the books are not even about how to actually fight the monsters, they're about Lockhart himself!"

"I suppose you're right", Ginny says, pondering. "They really talk a lot about Lockhart. But, I still think he's brilliant."

"Then we better avoid this subject", I suggest.

"What's your owl's name?" Ginny asks, pointing at Neri, whose cage is on the seat next to mine.

"Neri", I say. "She really doesn't like being locked up in a cage, so don't be surprised if…"

Neri lets out a loud scream.

"…screams", I end my sentence and throw some owl treats into Neri's cage. Ginny giggles.

We chat for hours. Ginny tells me more about her family, and I tell her more about mine. Er, I mean my adoptive family. We talk about Hogwarts and all the things waiting for us in there. I can't help but smile; I think I've found my first friend in years.

"Anything from the trolley?" a voice calls from the corridor.

The compartment door slides open, and we see an old woman with a trolley filled with sweets, pies, sandwiches and much, much more.

"Anything from the trolley, dears?" the woman asks.  
"No, thanks", Ginny says. "I've got a lunch bag."

I stand up to buy something. There are chocolate frogs, Bertie Bott's all-flavoured beans, pumpkin pasties and much more. I can't help but grin. My aunt used to buy me wizard sweets, but I haven't had them in years.

"Two pumpkin pasties", a voice says from my right. I turn my head to see Scorpius Malfoy and a few other students behind him.

"You don' wanna eat that, Scorpius", a blonde girl says. "Me sister says that stuff's bloody awful. You've got a lunch bag anyways."

"I like pumpkin pasties", Scorpius says. "Can't help it." He pays the lady and gets his pumpkin pasties. He notices me and nods.

"Reed."

"Scorpius", I reply coldly.

I end up buying two boxes of Bott's, five chocolate frogs, a bottle of pumpkin juice and three pumpkin pasties.

"Wow, you're hungry", Ginny says as I get back to my seat.

"I haven't eaten these in years", I tell her, opening one chocolate frog box. "Hey, look, I got Morgana."  
"I don't have Morgana yet", Ginny says. I open the next box.

"Oh, you can have it. I've got another one." I give the card to Ginny, who smiles at me. "Do you want a frog, too?" Before she can answer, I pass it to her.

"Thanks", she says. I smile shyly at my feet.

Next I open the Bertie Bott's box.

"I don't have many good memories about these", I chuckle. "Do they still have the vomit-flavoured ones?"

"Yep, and lots of new stuff. George swears he once had one that tasted like earwax", Ginny says.

"Well, here goes", I say and throw a red bean into my mouth. "Oh, god, that was chili!" I take a long sip from the pumpkin juice bottle, and Ginny giggles.

"You want one?" I ask her and give her a yellow bean, that turns out to be lemon.

"Do you think we should change into our school robes?" Ginny asks after a while.

"Yeah, I think that would be wise", I respond. "We can't be very far anymore."

I dig my school uniform from my enormous trunk. It consists of a grey wool skirt, dark grey sweater, grey socks, a white shirt and a pair of black shoes.

"Do you think we'll have to drag our stuff to the school?" I ask Ginny.

"No, I think we can leave it here. I asked Percy and he said it's taken to the dorms."

"Okay, good", I say, relieved that I don't have to drag the large and unbelievably heavy trunk any further. Never the less, I decide to throw the backpack on my back when the train starts slowing down. I never go anywhere without that backpack; in it I keep my pencil case, notebook, the book I'm currently reading, a small amount of money and a bottle of water. I've also put my wand into the backpack, like I've done every day since Diagon Alley. I know I'm not supposed to use magic outside of the school, but I like to be prepared for anything.

The train keeps slowing down and Ginny and I step out into the corridor. So has everyone else, apparently. The corridor is full of nervous first years and noisy older students. I'm starting to get a claustrophobia attack, so I retreat back to the compartment and stay there until the train has stopped and people are starting to move out.

I step outside into the cool autumn air, take a deep breath and stretch my arms.

"Firs' years here!" someone shouts from my left. I turn my head and see a giant man standing in the middle of the crowd; Rubeus Hagrid. It's been seven years since I last saw him, but he's the kind of person you can't forget. He's holding a big lantern in his hand, and all the first years are gathering around him. I spot Ginny's red hair her and join her.

"Everyone here?" Hagrid asks. The only word that properly describes his voice is 'mighty'. "Good. Follow me!"

We follow him down a steep, narrow path in the dark. Actually, it's so dark I can barely even see were I'm going, but it doesn't seem to matter – I somehow know exactly were to put my feet, while the others are constantly stumbling. I think we're in a forest – I can smell the trees.

"Look out", I whisper to Ginny, and she just barely avoids a hole on the ground. Some other student isn't so lucky, however, as he steps into it and falls over.

"Yeh'll see the firs' sigh' o' Hogwarts in a minute", Hagrid says.

We turn around the corner, and every single student around me lets out a loud sigh of amazement.

The narrow path has suddenly opened on to the edge of a great, black lake. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, there is a vast castle with many turrets towers.

There are a few boats floating in the water in front of us. Hagrid instructs us to sit down to them, four people per boat. Ginny and I stick together, and to the boat with us sit two girls, one with long, dirty blond hair and a breezy but a little bit hazy gaze in her big, greyish eyes and the other one with short, brown hair and a serious look in her dark, brown eyes.

The boats row themselves to the other side of the lake. I can't take my eyes off of the castle.

We get off of the boats, and Hagrid leads us to a massive oak door and knocks on it twice.

The door flies open, and we see a tall, old witch with black hair and an emerald green cloak. She looks really strict and reminds me of Elaine a little. She is introduced as professor McGonagall, the device-headmistress of the school. She leads us to small chamber entered from an enormous hall with a ceiling so high I can't see it. When I say the chamber is small, I really mean it – I'm starting to feel claustrophobic with all the people around me.

Professor McGonagall explains us about the houses; how our house will be our family during the semesters, how we can be awarded with house-points for our accomplishments and how we can lose house-points by breaking school rules, how we will be sorted to the houses by a test, etcetera. Then she leaves us for a moment.

"My brother said the test is really painful, but I think he was lying", Ginny says.

"How can you have six older brothers and still not know what the test is?" I ask her. She scrunches her nose.

"They wouldn't tell me."

Professor McGonagall comes back.

"Form a line and follow me", she says.

I see a glimpse of fear in almost everyone's faces, and feel my stomach turn around. We follow her back to the hall and through big double doors to another enormous hall. Only this one is filled with older students and school staff, and everyone's eyes are on us. On a stool in the front of the room there is a scruffy old hat – the Sorting Hat.


	5. Chapter 5 - The Sorting Hat

Everyone is staring at the hat. It looks just like any old hat, but I know it's more than that. That hat will decide what house I belong, meaning that hat is pretty much going to decide about the next seven years of my life.

The hat sings a song–yes, it _sings a song_ –and then the Sorting starts. Professor McGonagall has a long parchment from which she reads one name at a time.

"Abbey, Sarah!"

A dark-skinned girl steps out of the crowd and gingerly approaches the hat. She sits down on the stool and puts the hat in her head. After a few seconds the hat yells: "Ravenclaw!" People in one of the tables start cheering and clapping. Sarah sits down on the table and the sorting goes on.

"Butler, Mandy!"

"Slytherin!"

"Creevey, Colin!"

"Gryffindor!"

"Danielson, Hector!"

"Hufflepuff!"

"Endicott, Michael!"

"Slytherin!"

After Evans, Michael I sink into some kind of drowsiness. I wake up when professor McGonagall calls:

"Malfoy, Scorpius!"

Despite what he said in Madam Malkin's Scorpius looks really nervous as he sits down to the stool. I have a feeling he's going to be somehow disappointed. The sorting hat takes its time before yelling:

"Ravenclaw!"

I see Scorpius's face fall as he glances at the Slytherin table, where his older brother is looking at him with a slight grimace. I groan silently. I was hoping to get sorted in Ravenclaw, but now I don't know anymore. Not if there's a Malfoy in there.

I shake my head and scold myself for thinking that. I can't let some narrow-minded jerk to affect my life. He's not the only person in Ravenclaw.

"Reed, Celandine!" McGonagall finally calls. My hands are shaking as I step out of the notably smaller first-year crowd. I sit down to the stool and put the hat in my head. It's so big it falls on my face so I can't see anything.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" the hat says in a low tone. "You are smart, yes, very smart indeed… You also do have courage and creativity and you are remarkably loyal and honest. But where should I put you? You could do well in Slytherin, you know, they could help you on your way to greatness… You would also fit extremely well in Hufflepuff or Gryffindor… But I think you would fit best in RAVENCLAW!"

The hat shouts the last word to the whole hall and the Ravenclaw table bursts into loud cheers. I smile relieved, run to the table and sit next to Raquel McCallum, the serious-looking girl who sat with me on the boat on our way across the lake.

The sorting goes on until Ginny is the last one not sorted.

"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat shouts at the same instant it touches Ginny's red hair. She smiles relieved before hurrying to the cheering and clapping Gryffindors.

After professor Dumbledore has given a short speech the empty platters, trays and jugs are filled with all kind of food and drink. I haven't realized how hungry I am until now, and I fill my plate everything within my reach; fried potatoes, boiled potatoes, fried eggs, bacon, chips, fried chicken, carrots, potato casserole… I even see some mint pastilles and save a few for later.

While I have been busy eating, the others have started talking and getting to know each other.

"What about you, Celandine?" Daniel Oakley asks. I have no idea what she's talking about, and my mouth is full of food, so I just crease my eyebrows and look confused.

"What is your blood status?" Iris Greene specifies.

"Oh", I mumble and quickly swallow my food. "I'm half blood."

"I'm pure", Iris says with a hint of pride in her tone. I raise my eyebrows.

"Oh, don't look at me like that", she says cheerily. "I'm not like those Slytherins; I do appreciate my inheritance, but I don't think Muggles are trash. My best friend Mia is a Muggle. Oh, I'm _sooo_ going to miss her during the semester!"

"What about you, Raquel?" I ask the girl sitting silently next to me.

"I'm half", she murmurs. "But just call me Callum. I hate Raquel."

"I'm pure too", Scorpius says proudly. People just nod; nobody really cares about blood status.

"So where are all you guys from?" Frederic Killough asks and stuffs his mouth full of food. I try not to look at him as he opens his full mouth and continues: "I'm from Wales."

"I'm from Cornwall", Samantha Doyle says.

"I'm from Ottery St. Catchpole", says Luna Lovegood breezily. "It's in Devon."

"I'm from London", I say.

"Cool, me too", Daniel replies.

I go back to eating. God, this food is good! I can't remember when I've ever eaten something as good as this.

Just when I am absolutely sure I can't eat one more bite, the main course disappears and the trays and platters are filled with dessert (ice cream, apple pie, chocolate cake, donuts, pasties, strawberries, jelly doughnuts, cheese cake…) and suddenly I am hungry again. It's like Grandma Reed says: there is always room for some dessert. Although in this case there is a lot of room for a lot of dessert. Everything is just so good I can't stop eating.

Finally, when everyone is so full of food we can barely fit in our robes, the rest of the food disappears and Dumbledore gives a little longer speech about school rules and stuff. Then we follow the prefects to our common rooms. We walk along long corridors, ascend a lot of stairs and go through what seems like dozens of doors that are hidden behind paintings with _talking and moving people._ I mean, I knew that in wizarding world paintings are alive, but actually _seeing_ it for the first time in long while makes me feel a little bit dizzy. Or maybe I just ate too much.

Finally, after we've ascended a long and narrow spiral staircase, we reach a door with an eagle knocker. Our prefect, Robert Hilliard, takes the knocker and knocks once. The eagle opens its mouth and says:

"I appear from the beginning of everything to the end of time and space. What am I?"

"The letter 'e'", Robert answers. The door swings open and we step inside.

We find ourselves in a wide, circular room. A midnight blue carpet covers the floor, and large windows face in every direction. The domed ceiling has bronze stars painted on it. There are tables, chairs and bookcases furnishing the room and next to a door probably leading to the dormitories there is a tall statue made of white marble. Except for that, everything in the room is blue and bronze.

Robert leads us to the dormitories.

Our dorm has four four-poster beds covered in sky blue silk eiderdowns. With me in the same dorm live Samantha Doyle, Iris Greene and Raquel McCallum. I hurry to reserve a bed next to a large window. Our trunks and other stuff have been already brought up. I slump down on to my bed and stare at the window.

"I am _sooo_ tired", Iris says and dramatically falls on her bed. "I don't know how I'm going to wash my face anymore."

"Well, do it in the morning", I say. I sit up, open my trunk and start looking for my pyjamas.

"I can't sleep with my make-up on!" Iris says in a shocked tone.

"What ever", I say. I finally find my pyjamas and toothbrush and sneak into the bathroom. Changing clothes in front of other people makes me anxious; my self-esteem isn't good enough. That's what happens to you when you spend four years in an orphanage where about every other child bullies you.

After I've changed and brushed my teeth I give Neri some food to calm her down; she's really irritated after spending hours in her cage. So irritated the food I give her isn't enough. Anything but enough; she starts screeching even louder than she has been before.

"Is that owl yours, Celandine?" Samantha asks.

"Would you bloody shut him off?" Iris groans loudly. I sigh and open the window. A cold breeze blows in and makes me shiver. I open Neri's cage and let her out.

"Go to the Owlery!" I call after her. I really hope she won't get lost or anything. I close the window and slip under my blanket, still shivering. I hear Iris wash her face in the bathroom. Callum has drawn her blanket over her face and Samantha is leaning on the wall next to the bathroom door, waiting for Iris to let her in. I take Bleak House from my backpack and start reading, but I am so tired I can barely keep my eyes open. I give up and just stare at the ceiling and listen to Iris and Samantha enthuse about how exciting tomorrow is going to be.

"Shut up", Callum mutters from under her blanket. "I'm trying to sleep."

"Sorry", Samantha whispers and turns off the lights. "Good night everyone."

It doesn't take long before I hear their breathing change and know they're asleep, but I just can't fall asleep. I keep thinking about my mom and aunt. Would they be proud that I am a Ravenclaw, or would it even matter to them? I wish I could tell them how much I still miss them, but I know I can't. They are gone forever, and there is nothing I can do about it. A single tear falls down my cheek, but I quickly wipe it away, even though there is no one to see it.


	6. Chapter 6 - A New Friend

I'm sitting at the breakfast table with the other first-year Ravenclaws. The table is filled with bacon, porridge, fruits, bread, milk and juice. I'm writing a letter to the Reeds and the others are talking about… school, I guess.

"I can't wait!" Iris enthuses. "I hope we have D.A.D.A first, I really want to meet Lockhart!"

"I think he's just a fraud", Samantha says. I give her a high-five.

Our Head of House, Filius Flitwick, hands out our timetables.

"Well, your wish almost came true, Iris", Uriah Lincoln says after glancing down at his. "We have Defence Against the Dark Arts right after lunch."

"But Potions first", Iris groans. "I hear Snape's a total ass who favours Slytherins."

"Your brother says so, and he's in Gryffindor", Samantha notes dryly. "I bet he's not even paying any attention in class. You can't really blame professor Snape for not favouring students who don't behave."

"Yeah, you're probably right", Iris admits and swallows the last piece of bacon on her plate.

"Come on, guys", Wallace Killough says. "We can't be late."

"Celandine, are you coming?" Samantha asks as the others stand up while I stay put in my chair.

"Yeah, I'll be with you guys in a minute", I answer. "I'll just finish this letter to my… family."

Samantha frowns a little to the way I say the word "family", but doesn't push it.

"Okay", she just says and goes with the others. I turn to the letter again.

 _Hey_ _guys_ _!_

 _I'm in Hogwarts now. The journey to here was_ _a little boring_ _quite nice. The school is in a big, old castle. It's kind of cool. I sleep in the same dormitory with three other girls; Samantha, Iris and_ _Callum_ _Raquel._ _I don't really think we'll become best friends with them. They all seem too different from me for us to become very close._ _They all seem quite nice. Food is awesome._ _I miss you all. Hope Emma hasn't punched anyone._ _Hope you are all well._

 _Cellie_

It's good enough. I can send it during lunch. I fold the letter, write the Reeds' address on it and shove it in my bag. I am about to leave the Great Hall and catch up with the others, when I suddenly decide it's best if I cover my ears. Half a second after I've hesitantly done so, a very loud roar spreads across the Hall: Ron Weasley's got a Howler.

 _"–_ _STEALING THE CAR, I WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN SURPRISED IF THEY'D EXPELLED YOU, YOU WAIT TILL I GET HOLD OF YOU, I DON'T SUPPOSE YOU STOPPED TO THINK WHAT YOUR FATHER AND I WENT THROUGH WHEN WE SAW IT WAS GONE–"_

Wait, he _stole a car?_ Wow. It really is a surprise they didn't expel him.

 _"—_ _LETTER FROM DUMBLEDORE LAST NIGHT, I THOUGHT YOUR FATHER WOULD DIE OF SHAME, WE DIDN'T BRING YOU UP TO BEHAVE LIKE THIS, YOU AND HARRY COULD BOTH HAVE DIED—"_

Harry? Harry _Potter_? He was with Weasley? Wow. Now that boy seems like he's seeking for attention, not like he's just been in the wrong place at the wrong time. The again, can I really blame him?

 _"—_ _ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED—YOUR FATHER'S FACING AN INQUIRY AT WORK, IT'S ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT AND IF YOU PUT ANOTHER TOE OUT OF LINE WE'LL BRING YOU STRAIGHT BACK HOME."_

After I am completely sure the Howler's gone silent, I take my hands off of my ears. I feel sorry for Weasley; even though it was really stupid of him to steal the car, nobody deserves to be humiliated with a Howler in front of the whole school on the first day of the year.

I gingerly approach the Gryffindor table where Ron Weasley is sitting with three other boys looking quite shocked.

"Hi", I greet them hesitantly. "Um, I hope they don't fire your dad. My mom used to say he's the only one in the Ministry who actually cares about the little things that could give in to the Muggles."

"Well, I think his job is dumb", Weasley says. "But, um, thanks, I guess."

I smile shyly.

"Did you two really steal a car?" I ask him and Potter, who is sitting next to him.

"Yeah, we did", Weasley says, grinning a little proudly. "My father's flying car, actually."

"They crashed into the Whomping Willow", a boy with sand-brown hair says.

I chuckle.

"No way. Seriously?"

"Yep", Potter says, not looking too happy about it, even though I did see him grin with Weasley earlier.

"Well, that one will go down in the history. Wish I could have seen it", I comment before hurrying after my classmates.

The potions lesson is held in the dungeons, where it's pretty grim, moist and chilly. We have it with the Hufflepuffs, who all look pretty terrified as we wait in front of the classroom door for professor Snape to arrive.

It took us a while to find our way here; the dungeons are like a big maze, and there was pretty much no one to help us find the way. We did bump into some third-year Slytherins, but their advices weren't very accurate, and Peeves the Poltergeist, who just laughed and threw paper trash on us.

Snape finally decides to show up. Everyone else seems to find a partner quickly, but I don't. Even Callum, who hasn't said a single nice word since we arrived, is sitting next to Daniel Oakley. In the end I seem to have no choice but to sit in the front row with Scorpius Malfoy.

Snape begins the lesson with a roll call. He barely glances at us. He pauses at Scorpius's name.

"I would have liked to have you in my house, mister Malfoy", he says with an unpleasant expression. "But I guess you just weren't… potential enough to fit in Slytherin."

Snape's eyes wonder to look at me. For a moment I almost think I can see a hint of shock on his pale face framed by greasy, black hair.

"What is your name?" he asks me in a tone filled with silent, extinguished rage and that shock I thought I saw on his face.

"Celandine Reed", I squeal. He makes me want to crawl under my desk and stay there for the rest of the class.

"Reed", he repeats slowly. It seems like he's trying to calm himself down by convincing himself I'm not someone he thought I was. "Reed."

He goes back to the roll call, but I can't get rid of the idea of him thinking I was… I don't even know what or who he thought I was, but it really made him nervous.

I scold myself; this clairvoyant-thing is really getting into my head. I think I see something there where there is nothing to see.

We make a simple potion for curing boils, but the lesson still manages to be awful. Scorpius non-surprisingly sucks at potions, and I have to do everything, just like in chemistry class when I still went to Oakhill Primary School, although this is more like home economics, at which I was never very good at. As result our simple cure for boils becomes something that is more likely to cause boils than cure them. I quickly make the potion disappear with a wave of my wand. The next one looks a lot better but is still not ready when supposed to, which causes us loose two points from Ravenclaw (although I have a feeling Snape just doesn't like us).

Before lunch we still have Transfiguration and Charms.

Transfiguration goes a little bit better than Potions. We try to make matches change into needles. I sit next to Callum, who succeeds almost immediately to turn her match silver but refuses to help me. By the end of the class I am, however, one of the only three who have been able to make any changes to their matches. Even if both of the other two, Callum and Mandy Butler, did succeed better than I did I can't help but grin proudly.

The Charms class is kind of fun. Our Head of House, professor Flitwick, is our Charms teacher. He's kind of funny, but an awesome teacher and really clever.

After Charms we have lunch. I go to the Owlery to send the letter to the Reeds. The Owlery is a big, open space in one of the towers and full of hooting owls of every colour. I'm not hungry, so I stay in there looking at the beautiful view. Then the bell rings and I have to run to be in class on time.

I end up being six minutes late. I knock on the classroom door, and hear a voice say "come in" in an irritated tone. I open the door and step inside. All the other students are already sitting in their places, and the only free seat left is next to some random Hufflepuff girl in the front row. I sit down as Lockhart says:

"And who are you, young lady? Fashionably late, are you?"

I raise my eyebrows.

"I had to run here from Owlery. I'm Celandine Reed."

"Oh, miss Reed", Lockhart says in a pitying tone, shaking his head. "I don't believe you are in the position to keep us all waiting. Now, if you would also take this test for me to see how well you've read my books during summer."

"I didn't read them", I say as Lockhart gives me a test paper.

"What do you mean you didn't read them?" Lockhart asks, looking confused. "Of course you read them, or at least browsed through them. Now take the test, please."

I pull out my quill and look down at the paper. It contains _fifty-four_ questions about _Lockhart._ How am I supposed to know his favourite colour? He really is a vain and self-centred jerk. I glance around and see Iris and some of the other girls answering the questions enthused. I roll my eyes at them.

The Hufflepuff girl next to me raises her hand.

"Yes, miss…?" Lockhart says.

"Meyer, professor, Scout Meyer. I was just wondering why all these questions are about you yourself. I mean, we are here to learn about Defence Against the Dark Arts aren't we, professor? And not you."

Lockhart looks stunned. Someone in the backrow whistles.

The first few days go past quietly and without any big surprises. On Wednesday I receive a letter from the Reeds:

 _Hi Cellie!_

 _We're glad you're okay. I was a little bit worried about you traveling to that school all on your own. How are the classes? Are they hard or easy? And what about the teachers, are they nice? How about your roommates? And have you made any other friends yet? Of course you have. Tell us a little bit about them when you have the time to write again. What about that Rhys boy, are you spending time with him? Rodger said I should tell you to stay away from boys, and I agree with him, but Rhys is different since we know him and his parents. They came here yesterday and brought Ffion with them. Emma absolutely adores her; I think they will become very good friends._

 _Everything's great in here. Maggie starts the flute lessons again today, and I think Emma is getting better at playing grand piano. They both told me to say hi from them. Rick isn't here now, he's in football practice, but I know he would like me to say hi from him, too. We all miss you._

 _Love,_

 _Elaine_

I write her back on Thursday. It's not a very long letter, but I briefly tell her about how the classes are pretty easy at this point of semester and how my roommates are nice and I have only spoken with Rhys a few times when we have met in the hallway or the Ravenclaw common room.

On Friday night I'm absolutely exhausted by everything that has happened since the first day, and I plan on having a long and good sleep this night.

In the morning my plans are suddenly crashed, however, by Samantha's snoring. She wakes me and Callum up at half past six, and since we can't fall asleep with the noise she's making we finally decide to dress up and go have an early breakfast (even though Callum at first wanted to wake Samantha up and go back to sleep).

There are only a few people sitting in the Great Hall when we get there. Nobody wants to get up at seven o'clock on a Saturday morning.

"Hey, you want to go for a short walk?" I ask Callum as I stuff my mouth full of porridge. "It's a nice morning, and it could be fun. I heard the Gryffindors are having their first Quidditch practice, and it might be fun to watch."

"Yeah, whatever", Callum mumbles her mouth full of toast.

When we finally reach the Quidditch pitch at half past seven the Gryffindor Quidditch team is just starting the practice. I wave shyly to Potter, who is in the team, and Weasley and someone I think might be called Granger, who have come to watch the practice, too, and then Callum and I head for the stands. On our way there we almost bump into the Slytherin Quidditch team.

"Flint!" the Gryffindor team captain bellows at the Slytherin team captain. "This is our practice time! We got up specially! You can clear off now!"

"Plenty of room for all of us, Wood" is Flint's answer. He's a big and ugly guy and one of the few people I could _never_ imagine myself wanting to be friends with. We were neighbours for a little while when I was five, and he was a total ass back then already.

Wood, the Gryffindor captain, looks like he's going to explode out of anger as he informs the Slytherins he has booked the pitch. Too bad for him the Slytherin team has a written permission from professor Snape.

" _I, professor S. Snape, give the Slytherin team permission to practice today on the Quidditch pitch, owing to the need to train their new Seeker._ "

"You've got a new Seeker? Where?" Wood asks.

Who else could it be than Draco Malfoy, who has been hiding behind his superiors?

"Aren't you Lucius Malfoy's son?" asks one of the Weasley twins.

And then the Slytherins start boasting about their new Nimbus 2001 broomsticks Draco's daddy has bought them. I can't help but snort.

"What's so funny?" Draco asks, narrowing his eyes at me.

"Oh, nothing", I say. "Just that you bought your way to the team. Have fun loosing, guys."

Weasley and Granger are walking across the pitch towards us. Oh my, this I've got to see.

"It's going to turn into a fight", Callum says. I jump a bit; I'd almost forgotten about my silent companion. "I just hope it's a good one. The Gryffindors need their egos to be smashed a bit, if you ask me."

"I totally agree with you", I reply.

"At least no one on the Gryffindor team had to _buy_ their way in. _They_ got in on pure talent", Granger says.

"No one asked your opinion, you filthy little Mudblood", Draco spits at her.

My eyes go wide and my mouth drops. I hear the Gryffindors shout in shock and rage, but my eyes are fixed on Draco. Callum has drawn out her wand and is pointing it at his face.

"You son of a bitch!" she roars, but before she can do anything Weasley has hit Draco with something that has caused a loud bang echoing around the pitch. The spell backfires and Weasley reeling backwards onto the ground.

"Ron! Ron! Are you alright?" Granger squeals. As an answer Weasley pukes a few slugs onto his lap.

The Slytherins roar with laughter as Granger and Potter decide to take Weasley to Hagrid's. Callum and I stay silent until slug-puking Weasley is out of sight, then Callum aims a good kick on Draco's side (he's down on all fours) and we leave.

"Nice kick", I tell Callum. She grins.

"Thanks. He deserved it."

"He most definitely did", I conform. "What the hell is going on in his head? I'd pay ten Galleons just to find out."

"I'd say he's an ass but then I'd be insulting Robert Hilliard's awesome one", she says. I let out a loud laugh.

"You sound like Iris", I say. She smirks.

"That was the idea."

We walk silent for a moment before Callum gingerly opens her mouth.

"I think I'd like to be your friend."

I smile at my feet.

"I think I'd like to be your friend, too."

I spend the rest of the day in the library studying with Callum. She turns out to be much nicer than I first thought, and we get snapped by Madam Pince, the librarian, for laughing too loud. I've always loved books and learning, but who knew it could also be _fun_ and instead of being just a handy way of escaping my lonely life?

We're getting ready to go down and have some dinner, when I suddenly hear a silent, hissing voice.

" _Let me rip you… Let me tear you… Let me kill you… Come to me…_ "

"Wait, do you hear that?" I ask Callum. She stops packing her books.

"Hear what?"

"That noise…" My voice fades away. "It's gone… But for a moment I could hear it, and it was… It wanted to kill."

"Are you sure?" Callum asks sounding worried. "I didn't hear anything."

I listen to the silence of the library for a brief moment, but the voice is definitely gone.

"Maybe I was just tired", I say, and we head down for the dinner.


	7. Chapter 7 - The Chamber Has Been Opened

Time goes by and before I know it, it's Halloween. I receive my regular letter from Elaine and Rodger, and surprisingly also letters from Maggie and Emma.

 _Hey Cellie!_ starts the letter from Elaine and Rodger.

 _Happy Halloween! How are you doing? Are you having a Halloween party? And classes; how are they? I hope you aren't overwhelmed with all the schoolwork. It sounds like you have a lot of homework to do._

 _Emma is throwing a Halloween party and inviting a few friends over. Maggie is staying at Rita's, they are having a slumber party, and Rick is going to a game with his football team. Right now it's nice and quiet, but Emma's friends are coming soon, and then it is going to get a little wild. You know them; they can never stay still for long._

 _We finally bought a computer on Thursday. Rick and Maggie have been fighting ever since about whose it is to use it._

 _We've been thinking about going to meet grandma in December. How would you feel about that? We could always invite her over if you feel too tired to go to Cornwall right after you have come home. Think about it and let us know._

 _Hello darling!_

 _I see mom has told you about our plans to go meet grandma. It would be nice to visit Cornwall again, wouldn't it? It's been a long time since you two last saw each other, and grandma is really waiting to see you again. I just talked to her on the phone and she sends her love._

 _I hope you are doing well at school. But of course you are, being as smart as you are. Just remember to have fun, too!_

 _I hope you are well._

 _Missing you,_

 _Mom and dad._

I blink a few times. _Mom and dad._ They have started to use those named with me only a little while ago even though I still call them Elaine and Rodger, and it makes me extremely happy. It makes me feel like I finally have a family again.

Next I read the letter from Maggie.

 _Happy Halloween!_

 _How are you doing? I'm doing great. Rita and I are throwing a slumber party at her place, but that's not what I wanted to talk to you about._

 _I think I'm in love! You remember that Eric guy from school, don't you? It's him. I just can't get those dreamy blue eyes out of my mind! But I haven't told anyone yet. I thought it would be safe telling you, since you're not here. I haven't even told Rita! I have no idea what he thinks of me. What should I do? Help me!_

 _Maggie_

I roll my eyes. It's just like Maggie to get all nervous because of some guy. Still I'm moved that she chose to confront me out of all the people she knows. I write her a short answer telling her to talk to Eric or get over it.

I don't have the time to read Emma's letter before Iris hurries us all to the Quidditch pitch to watch the Ravenclaw team's practice.

"Oooh, Roger Davies is so dreamy, isn't he?" Iris enthuses as we walk toward the stands. "I wish I was older so I could date him!"

"You don't even know what he's like", Samantha notes.

"Well, that is true, but he looks so _cute_! Don't spoil it for me, Sammy!" Iris continues. I catch Callum rolling her eyes.

"That Cadwallader is also cute", Samantha comments dreamily. I gag.

"No he's not", I say.

"Yes he is", Iris exclaims. "Just admit it!"

"Nope", I reply shortly.

"If you ask me, puppies are cute, not boys", Frances Scott says.

"Franny's right", comments Wallace, who has suddenly appeared next to us with Daniel and Scorpius.

"I don't think so", Daniel protests. "I'm pretty cute."

Samantha snorts and Iris rolls her eyes.

We sit down to watch the practice. To be honest, it's kind of boring; Iris enthuses about how dreamy Roger Davies is, Wallace and Samantha obsess about how we're going to have to do a lot better if we want to beat Gryffindor, Daniel tries to make conversation with Frances and Frances is busy trying not to have a conversation with Daniel. I lean my elbows to my knees and my chin to my hand and try not to look like I'd rather be anywhere else.

"I'm going to the library", I state after a while.

"I'm coming with you", Scorpius says. "This is boring."

"Sherlock", I note dryly, and he looks at me confused. "Oh, never mind."

We leave the stands and head across the yard back to the castle.

"I just don't get the Astronomy homework", Scorpius complains.

"It's easy, just simple math", I mutter. Scorpius and I are civil but definitely not best friends. He's still a narrow-minded jerk even though I haven't heard him say the word Mudblood in three weeks.

"Maybe you could teach me", Scorpius suggests. I sigh.

"Fine, but with me teaching doesn't mean just giving the answers."

"Got it", he says.

Outside the library we bump into Ginny. She looks pale and a little nervous.

"Ginny, hi!" I greet her. "Um, are you okay?"

"Yeah, sure", she says unconvincingly. "Just a little tired. I didn't sleep very well last night. How are you? It's been ages!"

"Actually it's been less than twenty-four hours", I note gingerly. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"What? Of course I am!" Ginny insists. "What is he doing here?" she then asks glancing at Scorpius.

"We're studying together", he pipes in a little offended.

"Oh, Cellie, I've been meaning to ask you about the Astronomy assignment! Do you think you could help me?" Ginny asks. I sigh.

"Does nobody understand it? Fine, I'll teach you both, but try and behave yourself."

It would be an understatement to say Ginny and Scorpius don't get along very well; Scorpius thinks Ginny is a blood traitor and Ginny thinks Scorpius is a narrow-minded jerk, which, like I've already mentioned a few times, he is. Them both being as stubborn as they are, I have a conflict to stop in less than twenty minutes.

"You're such a know-it-all", Ginny snaps at Scorpius.

"Oooh! Look who's talking!" Scorpius spits back at her.

"Guys, stop it", I hiss at them. "Madam Pince is watching us."

"Why does he have to be here?" Ginny complains.

" _He_ can hear you", Scorpius says angrily.

"Because I'm trying to be a good person and stand him", I tell Ginny. "And because if he gets his homework done he might earn points for Ravenclaw."

"Then why don't you just do his homework?"

"Because that way he doesn't learn anything, and Ravenclaw's all about learning, remember?"

"And creativity", Scorpius pipes in.

"I don't care", Ginny hisses angrily. "He's a jerk."

"And you're a blood traitor", Scorpius says.

"You do know that only offends someone who actually cares, right?" I remind him.

Ginny just shakes her head and collects her books.

"I'm out of here", she says. "I can't stand him any longer."

She drops one of her books. I bend down to get it. It's shabby, black and thin and doesn't look like any of our schoolbooks. The second my fingers touch it I feel some sort of tinkling in my hands and hear… something. It's like something inside the little book is trying to reach me, talk to me…

"What's this?" I ask Ginny. She looks at the book in my hand and quickly snatches it back with a horrified look on her face. I furrow my eyebrows, confused. "Don't worry; I wasn't going to read it. Is it a diary?"

"Yeah", Ginny replies. She quickly shoves the book back to her bag and is hurries away.

"Well, that was odd", Scorpius says.

For once I agree with him. What's got into Ginny?

The Halloween feast reminds me of the feast on the first day of school, except the Great Hall has been decorated with actual living bats and a countless number of jack-o'-lanterns. The tables are filled with every kind of food one can think of and the atmosphere is really bubbly.

"Jeez, Cellie, you eat like a dog", Frances scolds me as I stuff my mouth full of fried potatoes. "You too, Uriah and Danny! Ugh, that's gross! Please don't eat like that! Loony looks sane compared to you three right now!"

For some reason almost all the other Ravenclaws have started to call Luna Lovegood "Loony". I say "for some reason", because their apparent reasons don't seem valid to me: Luna talks about creatures no one else has even heard of, her mood is always breezy and she's shockingly honest and straight even if it is in the nicest way possible.

"She is sane", I note but Frances pays attention to what I've said; she's too disgusted about the fact I spoke with my mouth full of food. Luna has, however, noticed my failed attempt to defend her.

"Thank you", she says breezily. I try to smile at her, but it appears to be notably hard with my mouth still full of food, so I decide to concentrate on swallowing.

At the end of the feast I remember Emma's letter. I pull it out of my pocket and read it as we walk out of the Hall.

 _Heyyy! Happy Halloween! Mom and dad are letting me throw a Halloween party, and Maggie and Rick are both away! It's going to be awesome!_

 _Oh, by the way, I punched Lance Mitchell yesterday. Mom wanted to ground me, but dad made her let me throw the party since it was already all set up. You should have seen Lance Mitchell's face! He looked sooo stunned! That'll teach him to throw pencils at others! Ha!_

 _I miss you. Maggie and Rick are both being their annoying selves, and it's really boring. How's your wizarding school? Have you turned anyone to a toad yet?_

 _Emma_

I've just stopped reading the letter and about to fold it and put it back to my pocket again when I suddenly bump into Uriah. I look up to see everyone's stopped. I hear frightened gasps and tip toe to see why.

"What's going on?" I ask Uriah when I have to admit I can't see anything through the crowd.

"Enemies of the heir, beware! You'll be next, Mudbloods!" I hear Draco Malfoy shout. I push through the crowd and see a surreal yet shocking scene.

On the corridor wall between two windows there are foot-high letters announcing:

THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE.

Under the text I see Mrs Norris, caretaker Filch's hated and feared cat hanging by her tail from a torch. She looks completely petrified. There is water on the floor, and in the middle of the empty space between other students are standing Weasley, Potter and Granger.

My eyes go wide as I look at the scene. Did they do this? No – there is no way. Potter couldn't be _that_ messed up, even if he was seeking for attention in September by flying the car to Hogwarts. And Weasley and Granger? That would be even more unlikely; Weasley is always a Weasley, and from what I've heard of Granger she's a total teacher's pet.

To the trio's undeniable horror Filch makes his way through the crowd and sees Mrs Norris hanging on the wall.

"My cat! My cat! What's happened to Mrs Norris?" he shrieks in a surprisingly high voice. He continues to scream at Potter, accusing him of murdering Mrs Norris and threatening to kill him.

" _Argus_!" someone pipes in from the crowd. It's professor Dumbledore; he has appeared with a few other staff members. "Come with me, Argus. You too, Mr Potter, Mr Weasley, Miss Granger."

Lockhart offers his office for professor Dumbledore to use and all eight of them (professor Snape and professor McGonagall have hurried after them) disappear behind the corner. Professor Dumbledore has taken Mrs Norris with him, and only the foot-high letters on the wall. We all stare at them for a moment before professor Flitwick and professor Sprout start shooing us away.

"What the hell was that about?" Uriah blurts as soon the teachers are out of earshot.

"You haven't heard about the Chamber of Secrets?" Scorpius asks with a look of surprise and unbelief on his face.

"No", Iris says. "Should we have?"

"Well, it's like, _famous_ ", Scorpius states like it's obvious.

"I think I've read something about it… but I can't remember what", Frances says, trying to save herself from looking ignorant.

"Why don't you tell us, know-it-all", Wallace suggests to Scorpius. He makes a face at Wallace and says:

"I'm not a know-it-all. But legend says that after Salazar Slytherin fell out with the other three founders, he build a secret chamber somewhere in Hogwarts and put some kind of monster in there waiting for 'the heir of Slytherin' to let it out. People have been trying to find the chamber for centuries, it remains hidden. It isn't even known for sure if such chamber exists."

"What kind of monster?" Uriah asks looking quite excited. Scorpius shrugs.

"No one knows."

"But what does 'enemies of the heir' mean?" asks Janette Thomson.

"Mud- sorry, Muggle-borns", Scorpius states and looks at her like she'd just puked on his shirt. "Like you."

Janette scowls at him but doesn't say anything.

"That makes sense", Frances ponders. "Slytherin wanted to forbid Muggle-borns from entering Hogwarts. I would imagine him wanting to get rid of them even after centuries."

"But what the heck lives that long?" Samantha asks rhetorically and shivers.

"Well, for example…" Luna starts, but doesn't get to finish her sentence.

"Nothing", Frances interrupts.

"Well…" Luna tries again, undoubtedly about to tell us about a creature only she has heard of.

"Shut it, Loony", Janette snaps at her. "Nothing lives for a thousand years, certainly not any of your imaginary creatures."

"For someone who usually says nothing you're being extremely mean today", I note. Janette just scowls at me.

A few days later it's time for the first Quidditch match of the year. It's Gryffindor against Slytherin, so we don't necessarily have to go watch, but Iris doesn't want to let us miss a single chance of watching the Quidditch players.

"Why is it", Wallace says pondering as we take our seats in the stands "that if a boy has a crush on an older girl it's pathetic but if a girl has a crush on an older boy it's completely normal and acceptable?"

"Because of the culture", Callum says dryly. She usually just runs away when Iris gets ideas, but today she was too slow. "Just watch the game."

It's only been a few seconds when I notice something's wrong. First it's just a feeling, but then I see a Bludger change its course in mid-air and shoot right towards Potter, who was saved from it only a second ago. The other one of the Weasley twins hits it towards Draco, but it seems to have chosen to knock Potter off of his broom.

"Something's wrong with that Bludger", Daniel says. My eyes follow tightly the black ball as it aims for Potter again.

"Someone's messing with Potter", Scorpius says sounding both amused and worried at the same time.

The Bludger shoots towards Potter again. I squint to see through the suddenly started rain. Wood has called time-out, and the Gryffindor team gathers together as the Slytherins in the crowd start cheering. The Gryffindors have a short conversation and then Madam Hooch whistles the game on again.

"The Snitch is flying right next to Draco", I mutter to myself with my eyes still on the mad Bludger.

"What?" Callum asks. "How can you tell? I can't see anything in this rain."

I gulp. I haven't told my new friends about the clairvoyant-thing because I don't want to make a fuss. Telling Rhys was different because he used to be my best friend though a long time ago.

Speaking of Rhys he's sitting right behind us.

"Why isn't anybody doing anything?" he groans. "That Bludger's going to kill Potter!" He pats my shoulder. "Is it, Cellie? Is it going to kill him?"

"I don't know", I tell him honestly. He leans back and groans again.

A loud, common gasp runs through the crowd; the Bludger's hit Potter.

Potter dives towards Malfoy – he catches the Snitch – and starts whirling towards the ground. Everyone starts shouting out of joy, shock and horror. I get up and leave the stands.

"Cellie!" Callum calls after me. "Where are you going?"

I just have to make sure he isn't dead. He can't be dead. I've only spoken with him a few times but I kind of like him and _he can't be dead._

When I get down from the stands I join the anxious Gryffindors gathering around Potter. I feel Callum grab my arm. Gilderoy Lockhart elbows his way through the crowd. I have a bad feeling about that…

It turns out that Potter is – fortunately – only unconscious. He opens his eyes and sees Lockhart hovering above him.

"Oh no, not you", Potter moans. Lockhart tries to reassure him by promising to fix his arm. Potter quite cleverly tries to say no, but Lockhart doesn't listen to him.

Lockhart points his wand at Potter and… something really weird happens. It looks as though all of the bones in Potter's hand just… disappear. Colin Creevey, that freaky Gryffindor with a camera, madly starts taking pictures. Nobody tries to stop him; we're all too shocked. Weasley and Granger escort Potter to the Hospital Wing, leaving the rest of us stare astonished after them.

The next day horrifying news spread through the castle; Colin Creevey has been petrified just like Mrs Norris. Nobody knows how it happened, but suddenly he's laying in the Hospital Wing.

I wonder along the corridors all morning trying to find a quiet place to think away from all of the fuss. Finally I reach a bathroom with a sign saying "Out of order" in the door. I wonder closer, when Potter appears from around the corner, glances around and slinks into the bathroom. I furrow my eyebrows; what's Potter doing in a girl's bathroom that's out of order? I gingerly open the door and step inside.

To my enormous surprise I see Weasley and Granger squeezed in one of the cubicles. Through the open door I can see a cauldron on the toilet seat.

"What's going on?" I ask. All three of them stare at me with wide, horrified eyes. "Don't worry, I won't tell. I just…" I blink a few times, trying to find the words. "Just tell me what's going on and I'll be gone."

"Um…" Granger says and glances helplessly at the two others. I raise my eyebrows and cross my arms.

"I'm waiting."

"We're making…" Granger starts hesitantly. "…love potion", she continues after a couple of seconds. My eyebrows jump even higher than before. Weasley and Potter don't look very wise either, which tells me they are _not_ making love potion, which would also be against the rules and just stupid.

"Just tell me", I sigh. "Or I'll go tell the first teacher I can find that you are hiding something forbidden in here."

Granger and Weasley glance at each other. Apparently deciding they might sink either way Granger says:

"We're making Polyjuice Potion to prove Draco Malfoy's the heir of Slytherin."

"He is not", I snort. "Why would you think that? That prat wouldn't know how to open a jewellery box, not to mention a secret chamber."

"We're not so sure", Weasley says glumly. I shrug.

"Well, since I haven't got anything better to do… can I help you with something?"

"No, thank you", Granger says quickly. I shrug again and turn to leave the bathroom.

"Um… you're not going to tell anyone, are you?" Potter asks gingerly. I turn again and see their worried faces.

"Nope", I promise. "Karma will punish you if there's anything worth punishing for."

"Wait!" Granger exclaims as I turn – again – to leave. "Actually there _is_ something you could help us with."


	8. Chapter 8 - Parselmouths And Jerks

"So", Granger says in an I'm-planning-a-bank-robbery-and-you-are-going-to-help-me-voice, "we need a diversion so one of us can sneak into Snape's office and steal the ingredients we need for the potion. I'd figured Harry and Ron could cause some mayhem in the class, but it's probably better if they don't risk getting into any more trouble. So, if you could pull Snape aside for about five minutes or so, that would be great."

"Okay", is my simple respond. Granger doesn't look very happy about it – maybe she wanted a proper answer telling her I've got an air-tight plan already set up.

The second week of December professor Flitwick lists the Ravenclaw students who are staying in Hogwarts for Christmas. Callum writes her name in the list with a slight grimace.

"You're staying?" I ask her.

"Yep", she says glumly.

"Why?"

"My dad's on a business trip in America and mom's gone with him", Callum answers looking even more glumly than before.

"That's a shame", I reply compassionately. Callum just shrugs and stuffs her mouth full of food so she won't have to talk. She looks sad and I feel bad for her. Then I suddenly come up with an idea.

"What if you could come home with me?" I ask her. "I should ask permission first, of course, but I'm sure they wouldn't say no. That way you wouldn't have to spend the Christmas alone in school."

Callum's face lights up.

"Really? Are you serious?"

"Yeah, of course I am. I'll just write home", I say and smile. Callum smiles back and I get a warm feeling in my stomach.

On Thursday morning I receive a letter from Elaine saying:

 _Hello Cellie!_

 _Of course your Raquel can come. I'm glad you have made such good friends._

 _We have changed our plans a little. We figured you could use some rest during the holiday, so instead of going to Cornwall we have decided to invite Grandma here._

 _I hope you are doing well. Do you have a lot of homework before the holiday? I hope you aren't completely exhausted. Only a few days and you'll be here! We are all waiting so much to see you again, and meet your friend._

 _Everyone says hi. Emma asked me to tell you she has learned to play a few bars of Für Elise. She can't wait to show you!_

 _Love,_

 _Mom._

In the afternoon I sneak into the dungeons and set off three of Filibuster Fireworks Potter gave me. I peer through the keyhole and see one of them land in Draco's friend Crabbe's cauldron. I grin as quickly leave my position behind the door and disappear behind the corner. That should do it.

The next week holds a few surprises, more or less pleasant. I'm suddenly welcome to the trio's company and spend a lot of time with Harry, Ron and Hermione, as I learn to call them. Also Callum and Ginny, who have not been able to stand each other at all, suddenly become good friends after Callum announces Draco Malfoy is a worthless prick whose father dropped him on his head when he was a child (although she does say that about almost everyone).

One of the less pleasant surprises is that Iris and Wallace suddenly start dating. They walk in the hallways holding hands and say really mindless things to each other. Frances doesn't say anything, but she scowls at them every time they go near her and Callum uses every opportunity she gets to mock either Wallace or Iris for their "horrible yet amusing" choice. I just shake my head once or twice before continuing what ever I am doing, but in my opinion they shouldn't try and act like grown-ups when they are definitely not. We're _eleven_ , for goodness sake!

The last but certainly not least is the announcement the school is starting a Duelling Club. Daniel notices the sign in the Entrance Hall and informs the rest of us, which leads to him, Wallace, Uriah and Callum forcing the rest of us to come with them. Well, most of us at least – Janette refuses to talk to us for some stupid Janette-reason and Luna is almost inconspicuously left out of the invitation.

So, eight o'clock Wallace, Uriah, Daniel, Iris, Samantha, Callum, Frances and I enter the Great Hall along apparently almost every other student in the school (excluding Janette, who is probably still giving the silent treatment to her book even though we're not around to try and make her feel good about it).

"Who do you think is going to teach us?" Wallace asks as we go stand near the Gryffindors.

"I hope it's Flitwick", Samantha says. "I heard he used to be a duelling champion."

"That's probably because his opponents didn't know how to aim for such a midget", Callum says. Samantha lets out a nervous snicker.

"I bet it's professor Lockhart", Iris enthuses. "He _is_ our D.A.D.A. teacher."

"An awful one", Frances notes dryly.

Frances is right as usual, but unfortunately so is Iris; Lockhart walks onto the golden stage that has been set along one wall of the Hall. He takes the stage in an impressive yet sickening way and boasts about how he's duelled countless times (which I don't believe). Next he introduces professor Snape as his assistant, which clearly does not make professor happy. In fact, he's looking rather intimidating if you ask me. If I was Lockhart, I would have picked someone else to help me with the demonstration. Then again, if I was Lockhart, I would be as stupid as he is right now, and I still would have picked professor Snape. Lockhart bows dramatically whereas professor Snape barely nods his head.

"As you see, we are holding our wands in the accepted combative position. On the count of three, we will cast our first spells", Lockhart says and then adds: "Neither of us will be aiming to kill, of course."

You mean you won't, but professor Snape might, I think to myself.

Lockhart counts to three, and they both raise their wands above their heads.

" _Expelliarmus_!" professor Snape yells. With a dazzling beam of scarlet light Lockhart is thrown to the wall. I hear some girls gasp in horror and some of the Slytherins cheer. I am only slightly concerned; that arrogant git deserves a bruise on his ego. I hear Rhys and some of the others snicker lightly as Lockhart stumbles back up his hair messy and hat fallen off. I can't help but grin a little myself.

And then Lockhart goes on about how he knew what professor Snape was about to do and how he could have stopped it if he wanted to. I can't believe him.

Next Lockhart and professor Snape put us into pairs. I get paired up with Rhys. He grins to me evilly.

"Be prepared to loose, rookie", he gloats in a challenging tone I remember well from our childhood when he picked a fight knowing he would win. I scowl at him and take my position, deciding that this time I'll be the one who gets the last laugh.

Lockhart shouts through the Hall:

"Wands at the ready! When I count to three, cast your charms to disarm your opponent – _only_ to disarm them, we don't want any accidents. One… two… three…"

I point my wand at Rhys and scream: " _Expelliarmus_!" Unfortunately Rhys has been faster than me and my wand flies off of my hand. I pick it up and scowl at smirking Rhys.

"Again", I tell him and take my position. He raises his eyebrows mockingly. "You count", I command.

"Fine", Rhys grins, "if you want to get your ass kicked again. One, two three."

He is, again, faster than I am, but I pick up my wand and firmly state: "Again." The fifth time I actually manage to disarm him. He grins approvingly and says: "Not bad, rookie, not bad." I let a self-satisfied smirk spread across my face.

We're about to do the disarming spell for the sixth time when Lockhart decides to teach us how to block unfriendly spells. Professor Snape chooses Draco Malfoy and Harry to demonstrate. Rhys grins and says:

"This should be good."

Lockhart completely fails at performing a simple defence spell and drops his wand. I hear nervous snickers. Professor Snape smirks. Lockhart picks up his wand and counts to three. Draco points his wand at Harry and yells: " _Serpensortia_!"

A loud gasp runs through the crowd as a long, black snake shoots from the end of Draco's wand. Lockhart unsuccessfully tries to get rid of the snake and it just flies ten feet up and falls back down. That makes the snake even angrier that it would naturally have been. It hisses and heads straight towards a Hufflepuff Justin Finch-Fletchley, looking about ready to attack him.

" _Leave him_!" Harry hisses at the snake. My eyes go wide, and I hear Rhys blurt something his mother wouldn't like to hear.

"What do you think you're playing at?" Finch-Fletchley shouts. I shake my head. This isn't possible.

I head towards Harry and the other Gryffindors. I grab his robes and pull him out of the Hall. Ron and Hermione follow us.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" I hiss at him. "Are you an idiot or what?"

Harry's expression tells me he has no idea what I am talking about. He leaves the Entrance Hall with Ron and Hermione.

Callum appears on my side.

"What the hell was that about?" she asks. "Potter's a Parselmouth? Just… what the…" her voice fades away as she stares after the trio.

"Cellie?" Rhys asks from my other side. "Are you okay? I mean…" He glances at Callum. I try to shake my head as inconspicuously as possible, but I know Callum notices. Luckily she doesn't say anything. I just stand there, staring at the staircase, and think.

I am a Parselmouth. I've known that for years, and Rhys knows it too. My mother noticed it when I was five and very insistently told me never to let anyone know. I grew up keeping my ability a secret. The hiding kind of came a part of me, and I'd almost forgotten about it myself, until today.

But if Harry was a Parselmouth, too, what did it mean? What if he was… my relative? What if I still had biological family alive?

"Ah, Miss Reed", Lockhart says from behind me, making me jump. "I wanted to talk to you. If you would come to my office, please. Without your friends."

I glance at Callum and Rhys, but follow Lockhart up the stairs and to his office.

"Take a seat", Lockhart says. I sit down on a chair in front of his desk and he sits next to me.

"What did you have to say?" I ask dully.

"I wanted to talk about your attitude problem in my class", Lockhart says, leaning a little too close.

"I don't have an attitude problem", I reply and draw back a bit so that Lockhart's sickening, minty breath doesn't cover all my senses.

I have no idea about what he says next, but I do know he places his hand on my upper thigh and leans much too close. So close I can almost taste his breath…

I quickly get up from my chair and accidently almost knock it over. Lockhart glances up looking confused.

"I-I have to g-go", I stammer. Lockhart gets up. I see his face hovering less than an inch above mine and feel his body against mine and his hand on my lower back as he tries to hold me still. I resist the urge to punch him in the stomach and just slap his hand away. I try to leave, but he grabs my wrist and pulls me back. I try to get away from his grasp, but he's too strong. Then I bend down and bite his arm. He cries out and lets me go. I hurry away from the room. Outside I bump into Callum.

"Cellie?" she asks, looking shocked. "What happened? Are you okay?"

"Of course I'm okay", I say and grab her arm. "Let's just get out of here."

"No you're not", Callum says and shakes me off of her. "You're crying."

"No I'm not", I insist, but my voice cracks and a tear falls down my cheek, and then another one, and another one, until I can barely see.

"Cellie, what happened in there?" Callum demands as we hurry along the hallways. I don't trust my voice anymore, so I just shake my head.

The way to the Ravenclaw tower feels miles long. When we finally reach the common room I run the stairs taking two steps at a time and crash into our dormitory, where Iris and Samantha are gossiping about what happened at the Duelling Club. I hurry past them and lock myself in the bathroom.

"Cellie?" I hear Callum call me through the door. I open the tap and sit on the floor.

"What, can't I go to the bathroom without you?" I snap. There is a brief silence, and then I hear Iris knock on the door.

"Are you okay, Cellie?" she asks.

"Of course I am" I insist before covering my face with my hands.

After a short moment Samantha says "Alohomora", and the door swings open. The girls all sit next to me.

"What's going on?" Samantha asks. I quickly dry my eyes with my sleeve.

"Cellie, why are you crying?" Iris demands. Callum just puts her hand on my shoulder. I take a shaking breath and force my voice firm as I say:

"It's nothing important. Lockhart just thinks I have an attitude problem." I try to chuckle, but sound more like a choking duck.

"And you're crying because of _that_?" Iris blurts. Samantha scowls at her and Callum is looking rather murderous. They wait in the silence for a minute, but when I don't say anything, Iris takes control.

"You know what you need? A makeover", she states. "Or to be more specific, your hair needs one. It looks hideous. Can I cut it? Layered hair would look awesome on you. And you need a new hair cut too, Callie."

Callum looks so enraged I can't help but laugh out loud.

"See? You're already feeling better. Now pull yourself together, girl, and go get your hair brush", Iris commands me. I get up and obediently fetch the brush. Iris sits me down on a chair in front of the bathroom mirror and starts the work. I don't know if I should be horrified or amused, so I just listen to Iris babble on about everything that doesn't matter.

"Your hair looks somehow different", she says. "A little shinier. Have you bought new shampoo?"

I don't notice anything different about my hair, except that it's grown a little bit longer from what it was in September.

Callum strictly refuses to let Iris do her hair, and Samantha and I get a good laugh watching the two of them fight over it. Eventually Iris decides to give up and we can all go to bed. I don't remember when I've last had such a blast with anyone; I haven't really had friends over the years.

Just before I fall asleep I hear Samantha say:

"You three are my best friends."

Maybe it was already a part of a dream, but it felt good.


	9. Chapter 9 - Back Home

The next morning I feel like crab; I barely slept a blink the whole night. Every time I closed my eyes I could see Lockhart's face and smell his disgusting, minty breath.

"Geez, Cellie, you look terrible", Iris informs me.

"Thanks, I feel that, too", I reply and pull the blanket over my face. "Wake me up at lunch."

"No way", Samantha says. "We're not going to let you miss all the lessons before that."

"Who says I'm going to the lessons after lunch?" I mutter. "I'll just eat and go back to bed."

"As awesome as that sounds, we can't allow it", Iris states and throws my blanket to the floor. I moan loudly.

"It's cold!"

"Then get up and get dressed!" Iris commands and starts throwing my clothes at me. I reluctantly get up and stumble to the bathroom to change.

Iris drags me with them to the breakfast table and the lessons, even Defence Against the Dark Arts, the main reason I wanted to stay in bed.

Lockhart goes on and on about how he defeated some horrible monster somewhere in the mountains. I just lean my head to my hands and stare at my desk. I notice him wondering my way more than once, and every time I smell his disgusting scent of mint I nearly throw up. On top of that I have a horrible headache caused by the sleepless night. The Hufflepuff girl next to me, Scout Meyer, notices something's wrong.

"Are you okay?" she asks. I shrug.

"Just a headache."

"You don't look too well", she continues in a worried tone. "I think you should visit the Hospital Wing."

"Miss Meyer, Miss Reed, is something wrong?" Lockhart asks as he sails towards us. I grit my teeth and refuse to look up from the desk.

"Reed's not feeling very well, professor", Meyer tells him. Lockhart leans over our desk and my heart starts racing faster and I can feel my breakfast coming up.

"Is that so?" Lockhart asks. "Miss Reed?"

I don't answer. If I just ignore him, maybe he'll go away and forget I exist.

"Miss Reed?" he repeats more demandingly.

"I'm fine", I murmur.

"You do look quite ill", Lockhart says. "I will escort you to the Hospital Wing."

He takes my upper arm and pulls me up. I quickly shake him off of me.

"I'll find there myself", I mutter, still not looking up to face him.

"He wraps his arm around my shoulders and pulls me too close. I shake him off again. Why can't he just _leave me be_?

"Now, now, Miss Reed. You look quite feverish, and I do not think you should wonder along the corridors alone."

He lifts his hand to touch my face. I jolt back.

"Don't touch me", I snap at him. "I'm _fine_." I grab my bag and storm out of the room before he has the chance to try and molest me again.

I wonder along the corridors until I'm as far away as possible from the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom.

I turn to a crowded corridor; it seems like every single person who's been in a room along the corridor has come to see something. I make my way through the crowd to see what they're looking at. The sight makes my eyes go wide.

It's Finch-Fletchley's cold and rigid body. He's staring at the ceiling with blank eyes and a shocked expression. And next to him there is the Gryffindor's house ghost Nearly Headless Nick, hovering a few inches above the floor all black and smoky and looking about as dead as a ghost can look.

I look up and see Harry standing next to Nearly Headless Nick.

"What's going on?" I ask him, but he doesn't hear me; professor McGonagall has set off a loud bang with her wand.

"Everyone back to your classes!" she commands. I stay still and stare at Harry. He couldn't be behind this, could he? There is just no way he did this.

Poltergeist Peeves just starts singing. I know it's a Poltergeist, but shouldn't even they have some kind of respect for others? Apparently not.

Finch-Fletchley and Nearly Headless Nick are taken to the Hospital Wing, McGonagall takes Harry with him, the scene clears, and eventually I am the only one in the corridor. I just can't seem to get my legs to move.

Why is all this happening? I feel like I should _know_ something, like something's dancing right in front of me but I just can't see it.

"I'm not Muggle-born and I am still extremely relieved to get out of the castle", Iris says as we sit in the Hogwarts Express on our way home.

"What could possibly do that to a _ghost_?" Samantha asks nervously.

"I wish I knew", I sigh, "I really do."

"The question probably isn't _what_ , it's _who_ ", Frances notes nonchalantly.

"What do you mean, _who_?" Daniel asks.

"No creature could ever live a thousand years. It's got to be a person, someone who's just trying to make everyone believe there's some kind of a monster on the loose", Frances replies.

"You mean Potter?" Wallace specifies. Frances shrugs.

"It's Potter, there's no doubt about it", says Uriah. "Everything points at his direction."

"It's not Harry", I say defensively, feeling like I should defend my friend.

"If it's not Potter, then who?" Janette asks challengingly.

"I don't think it's him either", Luna states breezily. Janette scowls angrily at her.

"Nobody asked you, Loony", she scoffs.

"Don't call her that", Callum snaps at Janette, who snorts out a short reply.

I stare out of the window and think about the Polyjuice Potion. Hermione said it would be ready by Christmas. What exactly are they planning to do with it? Sneak into the Slytherin common room in hopes Draco Malfoy just happens to be boasting about the petrification of two Muggle-borns? I really doubt that. Even if Draco _was_ the heir of Slytherin, he wouldn't be that stupid.

Also if he was the heir of Slytherin, that would mean we were _family._ I gag. Just the thought of being related to Malfoys makes me feel ill.

By the time the train finally arrives at Kings Cross I am completely overwhelmed by thoughts about the heir of Slytherin and completely sick of Janette.

Elaine, Emma and Maggie are waiting for me near the platform 10. Emma notices me first and squeals:

"She's there!"

And suddenly I am thrust in the middle of a storm of hugs and warm smiles.

"It's so good to have you back", Elaine assures me. Maggie and Emma squeeze me so tight I can barely catch my breath.

"It's good to see you too", I say and then turn to Callum, who has been hovering behind me like a moon next to a planet. "This is Raquel. But she's usually called Callum. Callum, meet Elaine, Maggie and Emma."

Elaine smiles at Callum and shakes her hand.

"It's nice to meet you, Callum", she says. "I have heard a lot about you. It's nice to know Cellie has made some good friends at school."

Callum looks shier than usual and I can feel the heat crawling down my cheeks.

The whole way from Kings Cross to the Reeds' house Elaine, Maggie and Emma keep asking us questions about school.

"Do you get to turn people into toads?" Emma enthuses. Callum glances at me and I try not to laugh.

"No, Emma, we don't", I say. "We get to turn matches into needles and examine star constellation charts."

"That sounds stupid", Emma says, sounding disappointed.

"That's exactly what my father said", Callum mutters to my ear.

"Why does he think that?" Elaine asks from the driver's seat. Callum looks dazzled by Elaine's bat-like hearing.

"He thinks sorcery is full rubbish", Callum answers. "He wanted to send me to an elite Muggle boarding school, but mom convinced him to let me go to Hogwarts."

"So your father's not a wizard, then?" Elaine asks. Callum shakes her head.

"No, he's a Muggle. Mom's a witch, though."

"What do your parents do for living, then?"

"Dad co-owns a company with some guy called Vernon Dursley. They make drills."

"Dursley? Isn't that Harry's Uncle's name?" I ask. Callum shrugs.

"I guess so."

"So who's this Harry, then?" Elaine inquires.

"A friend of mine", I quickly reply. "Harry Potter. He's the famous guy I told you about."

"You know celebrities?" Maggie enthuses.

"Just Harry and he's not even a real celebrity. He doesn't even remember the thing that made him famous."

"Not to mention he didn't actually do anything", Callum adds. "Nobody knows what happened that night, but there is no way a one-year-old stopped the Dark Lord willingly."

"It's still so cool", Maggie insists. "I've never met a single celebrity."

"I almost met Peter Davison once", Elaine says. "He played the fifth Doctor in Doctor Who."

"Nobody knows what that show is, mom", Maggie comments. Elaine raises her eyebrows.

"Did you just call me old?"

When we get to the Reeds' house, Grandma Reed welcomes us with a big, warm hug. She's a big woman in every single way; she's tall and plump and she has a loud voice and a big heart and she mostly uses big words. She can also be extremely intimidating when she gets mad, which as I've understood luckily happens quite rarely.

"It's so nice to see you again, Cellie!" she practically yells in my ear while squeezing all the air out of my lungs. Then she takes a step back to have a good look at me. "Look how you've grown! You'll be as tall as me if this keeps on going! But you're so thin, too, I wonder how you're still alive! Don't they feed you well in that school?"

"I'm sure she gets just enough food", Elaine says with a smile. Grandma Reed moves on to Callum.

"And you must be Raquel!" she shouts. I see Callum jump a little at the sound and can't help but grin. "Hello! I'm Yvonne! It is so absolutely nice to meet you! Oh, I've heard so much about you! Come on, give me a hug! Cellie's friends are my friends too!"

Grandma Reed has one downside in addition to her loud voice; she's not familiar with the concept of privacy, and that includes your body _and_ your mind. I know Callum doesn't like being hugged, but Grandma Reed doesn't notice her grimace.

We move on to the living room where Rodger and Rick are waiting for us; it's hard enough to squeeze four people, two people's bags, one owl and a big grandmother in the tiny hall without adding two other people to the mess.

"Cellie, darling!" Rodger greets me with an extremely wide smile he clearly inherited from his mother and hugs me. "Good to have you back! How are you?"

"I'm fine, thanks", I reply a little formally. "This is Raquel, but she's usually called Callum."

"Hello, Callum", Rodger says and shakes Callum's hand. "I'm Rodger. It's very nice to meet you."

"Now", yells Grandma Reed, obviously taking control. "I'm sure you girls are tired after such a long trip. I have made up a mattress for Raquel in Cellie's room. You can go tidy up a bit before dinner. Rick, I'm sure you can help the girls carry their bags upstairs."

"It's fine, we'll manage", I pipe in quickly. I take my back bag and Neri's cage and am about to head upstairs, when Grandma Reed stops me.

"For Heaven's sake, Cellie, what is that?" she yells. She's obviously not been informed about Neri.

"It's my owl", I say.

"Owl? _Owl_? Why on Earth did you bring _an_ owl into the house?"

Elaine clears her throat.

"It's Cellie's pet. We bought it for her last summer before she left to the school."

"For Heaven's sake", Grandma Reed repeats. "Well, I guess there is nothing we can do about it now, but the owl stays in your room, is that clear, young lady?"

"Yes, Grandma", I squeal. She's the only one in the family I don't call by her name; I don't dare.

Maggie and Emma follow us upstairs. Maggie takes it to her job to give Callum a brief tour.

"That's mom and dad's room", she says. "That's the study, that room's mine and this one's Emma's. The bathroom is here. The trapdoor leads to Rick's room where none of us have any business according to him. I'm positive he's, like, inventing a bomb in there or something."

"Or maybe he just doesn't want people to sneak around his room", I note. "This is my room."

The room looks exactly the same it did when I left in September except for the mattress on the floor next to my bed. It feels sort of weird being here again.

"So", Maggie begins, sitting down on my bed, "do you have any cute boys in your class?"

I glance at Callum, trying not to laugh.

"No", I say, "unless you count Daniel who looks like a nine-year-old. He's cute in a puppyish way."

Maggie looks disappointed.

"Can you show us some magic?" Emma asks. "Please, Cellie, can you?"

"We can't do magic outside school", I tell her. Her face falls.

"Why?"

"It's a law meant to hide wizards from Muggles", Callum says.

"Which reminds me", I suddenly remember, "that Grandma doesn't know about the wizarding world, and it's probably best if she doesn't."

"Got it."

We have home-made pizza for dinner. We all sit around the kitchen table and listen to mostly Grandma Reed babble about everything in her loud voice. I have a strange feeling in my stomach. For the first time in years while I feel like I'm… home. Like I actually have a family.

"So", Grandma Reed shouts, "tell me about your classmates! Are they nice?"

"Mostly", I reply, "but we have one jerk in our group."

"Two if you count Janette", Callum adds.

"Why are they jerks?" Rodger asks.

"I don't think Janette's ever been nice to anyone, and Scorpius is just really narrow-minded", I tell them.

"Scorpius? Well, there's a name. What on Earth were his parents thinking?" Grandma Reed wonders and shakes her head.

"Probably themselves", Callum mutters to me.

"How is he narrow-minded?" asks Maggie.

"He believes everyone who isn't like him is wrong. His whole family's the same."

"What about the teachers, then?" Grandma Reed asks and takes more pizza. "Are they nice?"

"They're mostly okay", I say, pondering. "Our, um, chemistry teacher, professor Snape, can be really demanding at times, and then there's Lockhart…" My voice fades away.

"Lockhart's a wannabe-celebrity", Callum finishes the sentence for me.

"I still don't understand why you sent Cellie to that school almost right after you'd adopted her", Grandma Reed says. I almost drop the glass in my hand. Callum's knife stops cutting the pizza.

"Cellie's adopted?" she asks.

"Yes, last year from Cokeworth. Didn't you know?"

Grandma Reed looks at me with an unreadable expression and Callum carefully examines my face. I clear my throat and say:

"It never came up."

"No, it didn't", Callum repeats.

After dinner Callum and I retreat into my room. I try not to look at her as I start unpacking my bag.

"Why didn't you tell me you were adopted?" Callum asks after a while. I stop folding one of my shirts and just stare down at it.

"It's really dumb…"

"I'm your friend, right?" Callum says. "You can tell me."

I turn to look at her. She's sitting on my bed and looking at me.

"All of your lives just sound so perfect compared to mine", I finally say in a low voice. "I didn't want to be the freak whose parents are dead."

"Oh, Cellie!" Callum sighs. "Our lives are _not_ perfect. I'm not saying yours is, but so what? It doesn't make you a freak that you're adopted. Nobody would think that."

"But they would pity me for not having a real family, and I didn't want to be pitied. You know I hate that."

Callum looks sad.

"Cellie, family isn't all about blood", she says. "If it was then marriages wouldn't matter at all. You know, today I didn't see anything worth pitying for. I saw a happy, middle-aged couple with four children. They _are_ your, family, Cellie, and they love you. I know they do."

I can feel hot tears in my eyes, but I quickly blink them away.

"So", Callum continues, "do you want to tell me what happened to your birthparents?"

I shrug.

"Mom said my dad Douglas died in an accident, but I was just a baby, so I can't really remember him, just his voice, even though very faintly. And my mom Neri and my aunt Hannah died when I was six. Our house blew up. The firemen thought a gas leak caused the accident, but they could never say for sure. My mom was a Muggle, so I was sent to a Muggle orphanage instead of being sent to somewhere else."

Callum gets up, walks to me and hugs me. Only now I realise I'm crying. I hold on to her like I was drowning and she was my life buoy.


End file.
